By John Dower: With so many fighters to choose from for his May 3rd tune-up bout, Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 Kos) must feel like he’s in a giant candy store, especially when the opponent is very likely going to be one that he can literally beat the stuffing out of and look good in the process. However, in selecting the opponent, De La Hoya, 35, has to make sure that he doesn’t make the mistake up drifting too far down in the chain for quality opposition, for both the boxing public and general fans will let him know about with complaints.

So far, we’ve heard names like Steve Forbes and Paulie Malignaggi (24-1, 5 KOs) mentioned as potential opponents. The second name, however, Malignaggi, is the one that De La Hoya needs to be focusing on, mostly because of Malignaggi’s already huge popularity, but also because of the fact that he is so beatable. Let’s be clear here, Malignaggi, 27, would seem to be the ideal opponent because of his lack of punch. He only as a pitiful five knockouts on his record, and isn’t likely going to be able to hurt De La Hoya with any of his fast jabs or light punches.

His size, only 5’8″, also would be an advantage for De La Hoya, as he would have three inches on him in height, and wouldn’t be in danger of being hit with many of his incoming punches. Certainly, Malignaggi would be the quicker fighter, but his light frame and short reach would keep him from taking advantage of his faster hands. In terms of looks, Malignaggi would likekly look good on posters, which would also help sell the fight (not that it needs selling for someone like De La Hoya, but when you’ve lost three out of your last five fights, you need every precaution you can get).

As far as the actual fight would go, De La Hoya probably could win this fight without even getting close to Malignaggi. In his last fight, against Herman Ngoudjo, Malignaggi looked incredibly vulnerable, getting hit with a lot of rights from Herman, who telegraphed many of the shots. For De La Hoya, it would be even easier, because he uses his left hook a lot more now that he’s gotten older, and would be able to use that punch to stun the smaller Malignaggi whenever he strayed in too close trying to get a shot in.

I see De la Hoya destroying Malignaggi in short order, probably within six rounds. Though Malignaggi lasted the distance with his 12-round unanimous decision loss to Miguel Cotto in 2006, De La Hoya punches a little better than Cotto in my estimation and would probably have more than enough power to take out Malignaggi in the early rounds if De La Hoya tries for a quick knockout. De La Hoya would no doubt impress a lot of people if here were to stop a fighter as good as Malignaggi, even though he’s much smaller, so it would be in De La Hoya’s best interest to try and blast him out of the ring as quick as he can.

Hopefully, De La Hoya settles on Malignaggi as his opponent, for this is the best option for him. Believe me, a fight against someone like Forbes, would generate little interest in comparison to Malignaggi. Besides, Forbes might just be able to beat De La Hoya.