Injuries Don’t Stop Showtime

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan.

Showtime had a big boxing show planned for this weekend to showcase its new back-to-basics approach to the sport.

Unfortunately, co-headliners Kostya Tszyu and James Toney were felled by injuries six days apart.

“We considered canceling the show,” said Jay Larkin, the senior vice president in charge of Showtime’s boxing. “But since we’re just kicking off our new promotional campaign, it was important to put together a show.”

So there will be boxing on Showtime on Saturday, delayed, at 9 p.m. Only it won’t be the two top-quality matches that were planned. Toney was to fight 6-foot-7 heavyweight Jameel McCline at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and Tszyu was to take on Sharmba Mitchell in Moscow.

What Showtime will offer instead is Mitchell, the No. 1 contender in the International Boxing Federation’s super lightweight class, against Lovemore N’Dou, the No. 9 contender, at Bally’s in Atlantic City, N.J.

Also on the program will be a tape of the dramatic and controversial fight between Joel Casamayor and Diego Corrales, which took place Oct. 4. A rematch is scheduled for March 6 on Showtime.

This is the second Showtime boxing show under its new format. On Jan. 3, Acelino Freitas of Brazil knocked down Artur Grigorian four times and won the World Boxing Organization lightweight title in a unanimous decision at Mashantucket, Conn.

One aspect of the new format calls for a set schedule -- a top fight the first Saturday of every month. The other aspect, and maybe the more important one, is that Showtime will no longer enter into long-term contracts with fighters, thus giving the network the freedom to go after the best fights available.

“We’re trying to take the politics out of boxing to the extent we can, along with all the controversies and rumor mills,” Larkin said. “We want to simply put the two best fighters available in the ring, and have a schedule that makes sense and is easy to follow.”

A set schedule for major fights is a throwback to the heyday of boxing.

In the 1950s and the early ‘60s, the Pabst Blue Ribbon Wednesday night fights and Gillette’s Friday night fights were must-see television. Boxing fans knew when it was on, and made an appointment to watch it.

“We want to create a stationary target for our viewers instead of a moving one,” Larkin said.

Showtime has been in the boxing business since 1986 and has televised more than 500 fights. As part of its promotional campaign, Showtime announced Thursday that, beginning Saturday, all its domestic fights will be televised in high definition.

As for breaking ties with fighters, Larkin said, “We’ve been headed in this direction for a while. We’re just refining it.”

Lou DiBella, a former HBO boxing executive who is now a promoter, said, “What Showtime is doing makes perfect sense. They should have done it a long time ago.”

Larkin believes when a network, such as HBO, owns the rights to a fighter as part of, say, a five-fight deal, there are going to be mismatches because a fighter’s promoter is always going to be concerned about losing.

“Our policy is going to be no rights, great fights,” Larkin said. “When you’re obligated by five-fight deals, then 90% of those fights are fights you don’t want.

“We want to put on fights where the only consideration is the competitiveness of the fight. That will be healthy for boxing and help the sport grow.

“Our research shows there are 8 million hard-core boxing fans in this country,” he said. “If we can convince 10% of those people that they will see a quality fight on Showtime the first Saturday of every month, we will get 800,000 viewers.”

As long as neither fighter has to drop out because of injury.

Headed Indoors

The outdoor football season ends with Sunday’s Pro Bowl on ESPN. The indoor season begins on NBC at noon with regional coverage of the Avengers’ Arena Football League opener at Arizona. Eli Gold and Charles Davis will call the action.

NBC Sports President Ken Schanzer, looking forward to a profitable year, said, “All of us at NBC are excited about year two of Arena Football and are firmly committed to making this a success. ... We’re going to do everything we can to make it work and charge the entire division with doing that.”

NBC’s lead announcing team is Tom Hammond and Pat Haden, who will be in Philadelphia for a regionally televised game between the Soul, which is co-owned by Jon Bon Jovi, and New Orleans.

Of the first year, Haden said: “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into last year. It was incredible. I had the most fun I have had in my 22 years in broadcasting.”

Schanzer said of AFL’s marketing, “It may be edgy, but it is not offensive. This is family-based entertainment. We have Pat Haden, Mr. Clean, as our lead commentator, which is proof of that.”

Fox Sports Net doesn’t begin televising Avenger games until March 1 but will offer a weekly, half-hour AFL highlights show Mondays at 3:30 beginning next week.

Getting Fired Up

The NBA All-Star game is at Staples Center on Feb. 15, and TNT, which will televise the game for the second year in a row, will be in town beginning Monday.

Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson will broadcast live from Universal Studios CityWalk on Monday at 4 p.m., and Tuesday at 4 p.m. they’ll broadcast live from the Magic Johnson Theaters in the Baldwin Park Crenshaw Plaza as part of a community event.

Comedian Steve Harvey will be host of the Tuesday event, and reggae artist Barrington Levy will entertain, along with a surprise multi-Grammy nominated recording artist.

Short Waves

Beginning today at noon and continuing through Sunday, ESPN2 will offer eight hours of U.S.-Austria Davis Cup coverage.... The Tennis Channel is covering the Davis Cup matches between Australia and Sweden and Spain and the Czech Republic.

The 33rd annual Eclipse awards, thoroughbred racing’s version of the Oscars, will be televised by ESPN2 on Sunday at 10 a.m.... ESPN will televise the finals of the PBA U.S. Open from the Anaheim Convention Center on Sunday at 9:30 a.m.... Beginning Monday, the Golf Channel’s “Golf Central” will be televised at a new time, 7 p.m.... ESPN’s Max Kellerman is off the network, at least temporarily, while negotiating a new deal. Kellerman reportedly also is fielding other offers.

Because this is Black History Month, USA’s “PGA Tour Sunday” shows the next four weeks will have essayist Jim Huber exploring the impact of African Americans on golf.

In Closing

ABC has the Lakers at Orlando on Sunday at 9:30 a.m., and announcing the game with Brad Nessler will be Doc Rivers. It will mark Rivers’ first return to TD Waterhouse Centre since he was fired as Magic coach.

Rivers said one thing he was looking forward to was seeing the Magic players. “I got along great with the players,” he said. “And when you get fired, you don’t get a chance to say goodbye.”