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 Enlarge | By Ric Francis, AP | |
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In a non-title welterweight matchup Saturday, only Stevie Forbes, a former junior lightweight titlist, stands between De La Hoya (38-5, 30 knockouts) and a Sept. 20 rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Before his middleweight title superfight with Bernard Hopkins in September 2004, De La Hoya took on lightly regarded Felix Sturm. Beating Sturm appeared to be a forgone conclusion, but someone forgot to tell the German, who outsmarted and outfought the Golden Boy only to lose a questionable decision, 115-113 on all three judges' scorecards.
"There's no looking past Stevie Forbes. I've been training so hard for this fight just like it was the most important fight of my life, and it is," said De La Hoya, 35, who has held world title belts in six divisions, at a news conference this week. "It is because I don't feel like a champion. I'm not a champion."
The Forbes fight will be the first of three farewell matches this year, at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., just outside De La Hoya's hometown of Los Angeles (HBO, 10 p.m. ET). It's his first, and likely last, non-pay-per-view fight since 2001.
Like Sturm, Forbes (38-5) presents similar stylistic challenges to De La Hoya, though on a smaller scale.
Like Sturm, Forbes is a crafty technician who knows how to ride with punches to diffuse their power and catch-and-counter in between assaults.
Like Sturm, Forbes has only nine knockouts going into his fight with De La Hoya.
Unlike Sturm, however, Forbes is a career lightweight, a division 12 to 17 pounds south of where he'll be fighting for just the fourth time.
De La Hoya, 5-10½, cemented his legend with highlight-reel knockouts of career lightweights such as Rafael Ruelas, James Leija and Arturo Gatti. While he has 30 stoppages, 20 came between 130-140 pounds, where he could exploit his natural size advantage.
Forbes, 31, doesn't see the size difference as significant. When he was on the reality series The Contender, he fought junior middleweights (154 pounds) such as Grady Brewer and Cornelius Bundrage.
"Those guys were a lot bigger than he is," says Forbes, a former junior lightweight titleholder who has never been stopped. "I don't think it'll be so telling like people think it will be.
?They're heavier than Oscar. I never looked at him like a big physical, imposing, strength guy."
Forbes expects his speed proves to be a difference-maker. In De La Hoya's most difficult fights, a hotly disputed win vs. Pernell Whitaker, a late knockout of Oba Carr, a pair of losses to Shane Mosley and last year's close decision loss to Mayweather, speed was his enemy. "He's always had problems with guys who are smart boxers, technicians with good hand speed," says Forbes. "Every day of the week they'll give him problems."
It's Showtime:
If Andre Dirrell is the future, the answer could come Friday.
Dirrell, a U.S. bronze medalist in the 2004 Olympics, will face Anthony Hanshaw (21-1-1, 14 KOs) in a 10-round super middleweight bout on ShoBox: The Next Generation series on Showtime (11 p.m. ET/PT). This is significantly stiffer competition for Dirrell (14-0, nine KOs). Six of the 25-year-old southpaw's wins have come against opponents with losing records, including the last two who are a combined 32-53-9.
"I know I'm a world class fighter," Dirrell says. "I just got to put my skills out there and assure everybody I am the man to get that (168) title."
While Hanshaw's record is thin, too, especially for an eight-year professional, he has faced better opposition. He owns a win vs. former contender Kingsley Ikeke in 2001, and this is his first bout since losing a unanimous decision to former four-division champion Roy Jones in July.
"The pressure he brings I've been dealing with that my whole career," Dirrell says. "It's a big step up, but it's nothing I can't handle."
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