|
De La Hoya begins farewell tour
01/05/2008 14:19 - (SA)
Los Angeles - Oscar De La Hoya's farewell tour is beginning at home. He can only hope it doesn't end there, too.
De La Hoya fights Saturday night against Steve Forbes in what is scheduled to be the first of three fights before he ends his career by the end of the year. It's a homecoming of sorts for the fighter from East Los Angeles, but merely an appetizer for bigger things later this year against the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr., and possibly Miguel Cotto.
De La Hoya specifically chose Forbes, and he's a prohibitive 17-1 favourite to beat the former IBF super featherweight champion in what on paper looks like little more than an exhibition before the home fans. But, as De La Hoya well knows from his near loss to Felix Sturm in another tune-up a few years back, nothing is ever settled until the fighters actually meet in the ring.
"This is no pushover fight," said De La Hoya, sounding like the promoter he also is in this fight. "I fell for that trap before. Every fighter I fight goes to a whole new level when they fight me."
Not too many other fighters have made the millions of dollars De La Hoya has, and no other fighters are getting their own statue in front of the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
"I'm blown away by it," De La Hoya said. "I'm going to drive by it every day just to make sure they don't egg it."
De La Hoya, who has moved past boxing to become a fight promoter and business operator, doesn't need the money he will make to fight Forbes in the first boxing match at the Home Depot Center _ the home of the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team where David Beckham occasionally plays. He owns an office building, newspapers, Ring Magazine, and recently bought an interest in the Houston Dynamo soccer team.
But at the age of 35 he still wants to fight, and wants to go out big in a pair of mega fights once his business with Forbes is taken care of.
De La Hoya has lost three of his last five fights and hasn't beaten an opponent of note in six years, but he remains hugely popular, and nearly 30,000 fans are expected to be at the Home Depot Center.
"I want to knock him out," De La Hoya said of Forbes. "I want to look special. This is what I need."
Forbes isn't a bad fighter by any means, but there's a reason De La Hoya is such a favourite in what essentially is a tune-up fight for a September rematch with Mayweather, who beat him by split decision a year ago. He's smaller than De La Hoya and easy enough to find in the ring, a combination that moved him to the top of the list when De La Hoya was looking for someone to fill the role of opponent.
Forbes believe he can do even more than that, even though his biggest claim to fame since moving up in weight was that he lost in the finals of the "Contender" reality show.
"I think he's put a little more thought in me than at first," Forbes said. "I don't feel any pressure or intimidation factor."
- AP
|
