Fight Day Notes: Pacquiao in TIME

Manny Pacquiao was featured by TIME in a quick bio this week. Now, Ronnie Nathanielsz reports that Bob Arum has been contacted by the magazine to do a large-scale feature on Pacquiao prior to his next fight. This is huge for the sport, and for Pacquiao.

Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver both made weight for tonight's light heavyweight title bout. Dawson came in right on the 175-pound limit, with Tarver at 172. It's the lightest weigh-in of the 40-year old Tarver's career. There is now the idea that he overtrained.

Terence Dooley did a nice feature on Billy Graham discussing Ricky Hatton's career and his future. In short, Graham wants to see Hatton retire. Dooley also talks with Kerry Kayes, Hatton's former nutritionist. There's some pretty good stuff in there and I truly recommend it.

There's an, erm, "interesting" piece from Richard Boock decrying violence in boxing. It is an well-written argument and one that people will always have, but he more or less shreds my respect for the article with one smug, ill-timed line: "It might be stretching things to suggest boxers aren't stupid..."

Benjamin Flores, who died this week after injuries suffered in a bout last Thursday, has a younger brother, Miguel, who plans to continue on with the sport. Miguel is 17 and hopes to win a world title to honor his brother.

It's a nice PR piece for Chris Arreola, but I can't help but love the snicker-worthy headline: Riverside boxer Arreola tells students that hard work pays off

Kevin Johnson was supposed to face Monte Barrett on the May 15 edition of Friday Night Fights, but now will face former Olympian Devin Vargas (17-0, 7 KO). Probably a more interesting fight all things considered.

I know it's been postponed at the least, but there's a rather absurd hometown boy article for Kelly Pavlik at the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. You would think Pavlik is the greatest fighter the world has ever known. I love Kelly, he's one of my favorite fighters, but he has obvious flaws and there's a damn good reason people weren't excited for a Mora fight after dealing with his defenses against Lockett and Rubio. There's also a reason none of the networks were interested in that fight and it was going to independent PPV.

The rest of these notes are from Dan Rafael's must-read Notebook, so go read it:

Juan Diaz will return on August 22 on Boxing After Dark. No opponent has been named, but Rafael indicated it will be a top opponent in his Friday chat. Should Robert Guerrero win his July 12 ESPN2 fight, he could be on that B.A.D. against Roman Martinez, which is a hell of a good fight.

Mayweather Promotions has officially signed Zab Judah, who was last associating with Roy Jones' Square Ring in November. The company offered a July 18 undercard spot against Judah to Joan Guzman with a 142-pound limit, but Guzman passed.

If you just ate, be careful, it might come back up: Promoters are looking to make a July 4 heavyweight pay-per-view headlined by James Toney and Sergei Liakhovich. If Golden Boy's 135-pound show was called Lightweight Lightning, what do you call this idea? Heavyweight Hugging?

If it actually goes ahead, the long-awaited Vernon Forrest-Sergio Martinez bout will take place on August 1 in Atlanta.