Pavlik Live | Postcard from Memphis

The absolute highlight -- or lowlight, I can't decide -- of today's weigh-in came at 2 p.m. when the immortal Don King walked into the FedEx Forum wearing (are you ready?): A giant jean jacket with several emblems emblazoned on it, including Mount Rushmore, the flag-raising at Iwo Jima and a giant map of the United States on the back. He was also wearing a Twin Towers tie and carrying two miniature American flags.

Now, I don't want to criticize his "patriotism" (if I were Don King, I'd be hyper-patriotic, too), but here's a guy who's been convicted of murder, has ripped off pretty much every fighter he's represented and is generally acknowledged to be one of the big slimebags on the planet. And what do people do? They genuflect in front of the man, then repeatedly ask him to pose for photos.

Why? Because he's famous?

Sigh.

As for the actual weigh-in, it was a pretty uneventful event. About 300 people showed up and only two of the four fighters actually got weighed in public. (Jermain Taylor and Cory Spinks.) Kelly Pavlik and Edison Miranda were weighed elsewhere. The pre-fight weigh-in is, of course, a ridiculous made-for-media event. But it helps build publicity and it helps fill notebooks, so they continue to have them and we continue to go.

Other miscellaneous thoughts:

1. Beale Street in downtown Memphis is pretty terrific. There are a lot of great shops and restaurants and they shut down auto traffic, so you can walk around easily.

2. Memphis touts itself as the birthplace of Rock-n-Roll and the Blues. (Cleveland also makes the first claim, apparently because of Alan Freed.) There are a lot of Blues bands that play -- there's even a Blues museum next to the Forum -- and it's a pretty cool place to visit. Plus, it's warmer than Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

3. I saw a sign for Jefferson Davis Park near the Confederate Park. It's astounding to me that these still exist.

4. My bosses should know that I decided to walk a mile and park for free rather than spend $10. So, you know, hurrah for me. I'll try to make up for it somewhere in my expense report, but considering I've spent a combined $12 on food today, I don't know where.

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1:34 p.m.

Greetings from the Fairfield Inn outside Memphis, Tenn., the world-renowned hotel adjacent to the prestigious Southwest Tennessee Community College and a half-mile away from the Shelby County Correctional Facility.

I'm in town covering Kelly Pavlik's middleweight fight against Edison Miranda, which takes place tomorrow night at 10:15 p.m. (EST) and will be televised on HBO. Since I just arrived, and since the weigh-in isn't for another hour and a half, I have no boxing news. But I will later. Promise.

I've already been downtown -- briefly -- and I can tell you that beautiful downtown Memphis isn't all that beautiful. It sort of reminds me of St. Louis (I interned in St. Louis six years ago) and it sort of reminds me of Youngstown. The FedEx Center -- home of tomorrow's fight and the Memphis Grizzlies, who, rumor has it, are still in the NBA -- is a few blocks away from a pretty poor area. Beale Street, which is sort of like what Federal Plaza used to be in downtown Youngstown, is right next to the arena. I haven't been there yet, but it looks fun.

Before I got here, everyone assured me that I need to eat the barbecue here, that it's the best in the country (except for maybe Kansas City). So, for lunch, I went to this little dive place called Topp's Barbeque. There were a dozen people waiting in line and it looked cheap and good. I ordered the barbecue pulled pork sandwich and a side of fries. And when I looked inside the sandwich, I noticed there was cole slaw on the bottom. Cole slaw makes a pulled pork sandwich better in the same way that mosquitos make summer better.

Other impressions:

1. One of the parks downtown is called "Confederate Park."

2. On the way into the city is a giant billboard advertising a 48-ounce porterhouse steak for just $39.99.

3. There's a world championship barbecue cooking contest on the Mississippi River today. There's also a Nets-Cavs game tonight. Guess which one I'll be enjoying?

4. I have not been approached by any grizzly bears, but I'll keep an eye out.