SHOWTIME BOXING TO GET NEW LOOK FOR NEW YEAR.

Byline: ROBERT MORALES Boxing

One can forgive Jay Larkin for being excited during a recent telephone interview from his office in midtown Manhattan.

At the root of his passion was the future of Showtime Championship Boxing, which this year celebrated both its 200th telecast and 500th fight since 1986.

Larkin, senior vice president of sports and events programming for Showtime, talked about a New Year's resolution of sorts, as well as the schedule for 2004.

First the resolution: Effective immediately, Showtime no longer will engage fighters in multifight contracts. There will be no exceptions, and it will be policy - for good reason.

``From the simple perspective of scheduling the best fights you can get,'' Larkin said. ``If you have a fighter who has a five- or six-fight deal, you find more often than not the fighter has mandatory obligations to defend a title.

``The more belts they have, the more mandatories. You find your network paying millions of dollars for fights, and you have no control over who he fights. You've gotta take those fights, or your fighter loses his belts.

``You find yourself with fights you don't want.''

This is understandable. It's great to see of one boxing's two major cable networks take this kind of stand. The bottom line is, there have been some really horrible top-ranked contenders over the years who never have had any business being ranked No. 1.

One only has to mention the names Patrick Charpentier and Fitz Vanderpool.

Charpentier was the mandatory challenger to Oscar De La Hoya's World Boxing Council welterweight belt when the two tangled June 13, 1998, in El Paso, Texas. He might have been the worst ``No. 1'' fighter in history and was knocked out in three rounds.

Then again, Vanderpool also was pathetic. Last July, he came in as the WBC's No. 1 contender at 154 pounds before Fernando Vargas stopped him in six rounds at the Grand Olympic Auditorium.

No one wants to see those fights. They are an insult to a boxing fan's intelligence.

Larkin also mentioned that when Showtime has a fighter signed to several fights, it sometimes makes it difficult to make a fight with someone contractually bound to HBO, a scenario that has been witnessed many times.

All and all, none of it is good.

``The fan suffers, boxing suffers,'' Larkin said. ``You simply license that one fight, and when the fight is over, you move on. You've gotta be willing to put your ego in check, your pride in check and not try to rule the world.

``Our philosophy is simple: Good fights, no rights. We don't want to be in the rights business. We believe managing and marketing and promoting a fighter's career should be the responsibility of the manager and promoter, not the network.''

Larkin raved about the new schedule, which will include a Showtime Championship Boxing card slated for the first Saturday of each month. ShowBox events, which feature up-and-comers, are on tap every other Thursday.

On paper, it looks strong.

The first three Showtime Championship Boxing telecasts next year could be awesome. On Saturday, World Boxing Organization junior lightweight champion Acelino Freitas of Brazil will move up to 135 pounds and challenge WBO lightweight champ Artur Grigorian of Uzbekistan.

On Feb. 7, there will be a doubleheader from two locations: James Toney will take on Jameel McCline in a heavyweight bout from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and Kostya Tszyu will defend his world junior welterweight championship against Sharmba Mitchell in Moscow.

On March 6 in Mashantucket, Conn., former 130-pound champions Joel Casamayor and Diego Corrales will square off in a rematch of their hotly contested and somewhat controversial fight last Oct. 4, won by Casamayor via seventh-round technical knockout.

``We are looking at the strongest first quarter of our history,'' Larkin said.

This is Showtime's 18th year televising boxing, and Larkin has been there from the start.

``I look back at it with a wonderful warmth and a sense of accomplishment,'' Larkin said. ``I think we have done a lot of good in our own little world.''