By Jim Dower: In winning his fight on May 24th against the tough Mexican Juan Lazcano, former light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton (44-1, 31 KOs) may have destroyed his shot at landing what would likely be a huge mega bout against Oscar De La Hoya in the future. Though Hatton, 29, did end up getting the win over Lazcano, it was a difficult bout for Ricky and one where he appeared to get help from the referee in the 10th round to avoid being knocked out by the Mexican fighter.

This obviously wasn’t missed by De La Hoya, who came out recently and said that he’s not interested in fighting Hatton, that their weight differences between them would be too much for the fight to be able to come off. De La Hoya said that he could probably make the 140 lb weight limit if he had to, but that he would prefer not to have do that. At the same time, De La Hoya had some advice for Hatton, telling him to not to move up to 147 - the welterweight division again - because the extra weight would make a big difference in his performance. Though De La Hoya was trying his hardest to be kind to Hatton, not to ruffle his feathers any, it still came across that Hatton was being rejected as an unsuitable opponent. De La Hoya was previously very interested in fighting Hatton before his recent fight with Lazcano. Read more…

By Manuel Perez: While watching former welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) giving Steve Forbes a boxing lesson en route to winning an easy 12-round unanimous decision on May 3rd, I couldn’t help but notice how improved De La Hoya was since seeing him last fight a year earlier against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May 2007. De La Hoya, 36, seemed to have regained his speed, foot movement and ring intelligence against Forbes in a fight that turned out to be one-sided. Going into the fight, many people had been saying that Oscar was washed up, that he was over the hill and should consider retiring from boxing rather than prolonging his career and just wasting people’s money.

However, De La Hoya looked more than good, he looked superb against Forbes, a fighter with a style almost identical to Mayweather’s. It was clear, at least to me, that having Floyd Mayweather Sr. working in his corner for the training for his bout with Forbes, which was what was the missing ingredient that kept De La Hoya from beating Mayweather Jr. in their previous bout a year ago. It seems that Floyd Sr. showed De La Hoya how to solve Forbes’ style, and in doing so gave De La Hoya the tool for which to beat Mayweather Jr. Namely, by using fast combinations and sticking to his jab, De La Hoya has the missing factor that he needed in order to beat Mayweather Jr. Read more…

By Aaron Klein: In watching Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) completely take apart his opponent Steve Forbes last Saturday night, I saw the blueprint that Oscar had crafted, with the help of Floyd Mayweather Sr – his trainer – to use to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their upcoming September 20th bout in Las Vegas. De La Hoya showed none of the mistakes that cost him in his last May in his split decision loss to Mayweather Jr. Showing an excellent jab, which Oscar kept in Forbes face for the entire fight, De La Hoya chose his moments wisely in which to go after Forbes with sharp attacks.

This strategy effectively conserved De La Hoya’s strength, allowing him to fight hard for the entire fight and keeping him from running out of gas like he often does when going the distance with opponents. De La Hoya didn’t let Forbes encourage him to brawl more than he wanted to, something that Oscar has had a problem with in his fights with opponents like Shane Mosley and Fernando Vargas, both of whom could get De La Hoya to get out of his game plan quite easily just be landing a flurry of shots. Against Forbes, De La Hoya kept his cool, thinking about his game plan and not getting drawn into brawling until he was ready to. This is an important factor for De La Hoya, because it shows that at age 35, he’s still learning. Read more…

By Aaron Klein: Last Saturday night the six-time world champion Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) showed that he still has what it takes to be a world champion in the process of pounding out a remarkably easy 12-round unanimous decision over former super featherweight champion Steve Forbes at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California. The win, although minor in some people’s eyes, was extraordinary in a sense that we got to see De La Hoya in the best shape he’d been in years, which allowed him to once again show his excellent ring skills without fading late in the fight like he’d done in many of his fights in the past eight years.

Beyond that, he showed that he wasn’t a washed up fighter, a tag that has been placed on him by many boxing pundits who have called out for him to retire from the sport. In so far as what I saw of him on Saturday night, I don’t think De La Hoya should retire at all, at least not yet. He looks like has a minimum of three years left at the top of the sport and he’d be crazy to get out of it now, just to appease a few negative sports writers. I can certainly understand where they’re coming from, though, for De La Hoya has looked bad in losses to Bernard Hopkins and his draw with Felix Sturm. Other than that, however, De La Hoya has nothing to be ashamed of for his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., whom he lost by a split decision. Read more…

By Eric Thomas: In an excruciatingly dull fight, Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) won a boring one-sided 12-round unanimous decision over the much smaller Steve Forbes (33-6, 9 KOs) tonight at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, Nevada. The fight was wholly without any drama, as Forbes was, as expected, far too small and weak to present much of fight to the taller De La Hoya. The only thing unexpected about the fight was the fact that De La Hoya failed to tire out like he usually does in the second half of his fights. But, then again, Forbes, 31, did little in terms of applying any kind of pressure on De La Hoya, in a since letting De La Hoya fight at a snail’s pace which allowed him to fight without fading as is his custom.

In the final two rounds when it was obvious that Forbes, who was hopelessly behind at this time in the fight, wouldn’t be able to stop De La Hoya, it seemed to have the effect of making Oscar kind of cocky as he looked as if he were fighting a champion rather than an unranked smaller fighter who was fighting out of his weight class. For me, I had to stifle a laugh because it was rather pathetic, as if a joke was being played on people and only a few of them were in on it. Read more…

By Robert Cavender: Through no surprise, this Saturday’s bout, called “The Homecoming” between Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs) and former super featherweight champion Steve Forbes (33-5, 9 KOs) is failing to ignite much interest by fans judging by the lack of discussion about in on the various internet boxing websites in the past week. Here we are one day away, and one would expect there to be fairly substantial amount of discussion about the fight given the short period of time before the bout, yet almost next to zero fans seem to have much more than a passing interest in the fight.

It could be that the fans never were interested in the fight to begin with, seeing it as nothing more than an exhibition bout between a faded star, De La Hoya, and one that never has quite made his mark as of yet. It hasn’t helped De La Hoya’s case that he’s lost many of his recent fights, three out of give to be exact, and the ones that he has won haven’t been over top fighters. Yet with all that, people are expected to be interested in seeing De La Hoya fight, if nothing more than because of the fighter he once was. Read more…

By Manuel Perez: With his prime well behind him in the rear view mirror, Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs) continues on with his once excellent career when he fights Steve Forbes (33-5, 9 KOs) on Saturday night. One wonders why after making tens of millions of dollars over his career, involving De La Hoya winning a number of championships, he would want to continue fighting when he’s lost three out of his last five bouts and looked bad in a fourth bout which he should have lost as well. I suppose the reasons are simple: Yet even more money, especially in his upcoming bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September, which is more money than he can quickly make in his promoting business.

Aside from that, I can’t see any real reason to stick around, considering that he’s now losing virtually all his fights against top opponents. It’s like having an old race car with a shot engine and then continuously putting into a race against new cars, and coming in last each time out. Or, like an old race horse that can no longer get around the track and is beaten badly every time out. Read more…

By Chris Stein: Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs) hopes to get by his tune-up opponent former IBF super featherweight champion Steve Forbes (33-5, 9 KOs) this Saturday night at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California. De La Hoya, 36, hasn’t seen action in a year, since losing a 12-round split decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May 2007. Rather than take a risky tune-up against a junior middleweight or a top 10 welterweight, De La Hoya has opted to dip down into the junior welterweight division to fight the diminutive Forbes, 31, a move perhaps to ensure that the badly fading De La Hoya somehow comes out on top.

However, even with a three inch height advantage and a five in reach advantage over Forbes, I still expect De La Hoya to lose the fight, although he’ll still get the decision in the end regardless of how bad he’s beaten. Just like in his battle with Felix Sturm in June 2004, in which De La Hoya was handed a 12-round unanimous decision, in spite of the fact that he appeared to lose the fight handily, by at least six rounds on many of the ringside observers. In short, Sturm would have likely needed a knockout to get the victory over De La Hoya that night, for there was a lot riding on the outcome – an upcoming mega fight with Bernard Hopkins. Read more…

Boxing’s hottest junior welterweight prospect, 21-year old ‘Vicious’ Victor Ortiz, has been added as the featured attraction on the undercard of Oscar de la Hoya’s “Homecoming” bout against Steve Forbes this Saturday night at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Oxnard, California’s Ortiz (20-1-1, 15 KOs), coming off of a devastating first round knockout win over former world champion Carlos Maussa last November, will face seasoned veteran Dairo Esalas (31-12, 25 KOs) in a 10-round bout. Read more…

The current “Golden Boy” and legendary champion Oscar de la Hoya will pay tribute to the original Los Angeles “Golden Boy” Art Aragon, who died this year at the age of 88. “Art Aragon meant so much to boxing and the Los Angeles community,” said De La Hoya, who was called “Golden Boy” soon after winning his 1992 Olympic gold medal. “With his passing this March, I thought it was only fitting to dedicate my fight to him and acknowledge his great contribution to boxing and the community. I am glad his family will be able to be there for this special night..” Read more…

Superstar Oscar De La Hoya, aka “The Golden Boy,” fights in front of a hometown crowd for the first time since 2000 when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: OSCAR DE LA HOYA VS. STEVE FORBES is seen live SATURDAY, MAY 3 (10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT) from The Home Depot Center in Carson, Cal., exclusively on HBO.. The HBO Sports team of Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward will be ringside for the fight, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino. Read more…

Acknowledging his newly acquired ownership in Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo, as well as the fact that he will be fighting at the Home Depot Center’s soccer stadium Saturday night, legendary champion Oscar de la Hoya will accent his robe and trunks with the Dynamo’s “forever orange” color for his fight against Steve Forbes. The fight will be televised live on HBO’s World Championship Boxing.. Read more…

Oscar De La Hoya: Thank you, thank you very much Richard. Well I’ll tell you a bit about my training. Just before I start about my training I just want to say that I don’t know what I would have done without Mayweather Sr. back on my team. I really thought it was over. I really thought I was, you know, getting close to hanging up the gloves but Mayweather Sr. just brings out the best in me and, you know, this training camp has been no exception. Read more…

By Scott Gilfoid: In the latest boxing news, former light middleweight champion Ronald “Winky” Wright (51-4-1, 25 KOs) is reportedly highly interested in a bout with Oscar De La Hoya, whom he feels has been avoiding him for some time. This comes to no surprise to me that De La Hoya, or any other top fighter for that matter, would choose to avoid Wright, because he’s hard to beat even under the best circumstances. Since losing a 12-round unanimous decision to Bernard Hopkins in controversial fashion last July, Wright has been unable to find a top opponent that would be interested in taking him on, likely given his still largely intact boxing skills.

Wright, now 36, is interested mainly in several fighters, ranging from Floyd Mayweather Jr., Kelly Pavlik to De La Hoya. Unfortunately for Wright, each one of them have fights booked up for the remainder of 2008, and in De La Hoya’s case, he may be going after bigger fish, such as Miguel Cotto, after De La Hoya gets through with his next two fights against Steve Forbes and Mayweather. One can’t blame Wright for wanting a bout with anyone of them, especially De La Hoya, because the bout would mean a tremendous payday for Wright, likely well into the millions. Read more…

By Nate Anderson: In a recent conference call interview, Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs) didn’t rule out a fight with undefeated WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (32-0, 26 KOs). This would, of course, be taking place after De La Hoya’s fights with Steve Forbes, scheduled for May 3rd, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. on September 20th in Las Vegas. De La Hoya, now 35, would be looking for a bout with Cotto likely to take place in December. However, for such a fight to take place, a lot of things would have to come in line before it could happen.

For instance, Cotto is facing Antonio Margarito on July 26th at New York’s Madison Square Garden, and that’s a fight that Cotto will have a hard time winning given Margarito’s size, experience and punch output advantage over the smaller Cotto. As such, there’s a good chance that Cotto may end up losing to Margarito, which would wipe out De La Hoya’s plans, if he is at all serious, about wanting a fight with Cotto. Likewise, De La Hoya, an aging fight that is no longer nearly as dominating as he once was earlier in his career, has bouts against Forbes and Mayweather to deal with. First things first, Forbes, a smaller light welterweight for most of his career, still has a lot of skills, enough possibly to beat De La Hoya. Read more…

By Tim Williams: The Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs) has come in the past two days, saying that it’s time for him to hang up his gloves after he completes three more fights that he has on the agenda, thus wrapping up a 16 year professional boxing career, including a Gold Medal in the 1992 Olympic Games. De La Hoya, 35, has planned bouts against light welterweight Steve Forbes (33-5, 9 KOs) on May 3rd, followed by a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. on September 20th. It remains to be seen who De La Hoya will choose for his final bout, perhaps WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto or light welterweight Ricky Hatton. Read more…

By Jim Slattengren: With this past week’s news that Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs) is reportedly set to fight his tune-up bout against former star from “The Contender” reality TV series light welterweight Steve Forbes (33-5, 9 KOs) on May 3rd at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California, I kind of wonder why De La Hoya, 35, didn’t opt to fight at better opponent than him. At least pick a fighter that is a legitimate welterweight and not a fighter that has fought virtually his entire career at 140 lbs. Of course, De La Hoya had to pick someone, and most people assumed it would be a fighter with little boxing skills or ability with which to make it tough on the aging De La Hoya. Read more…

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. Read more…

By Chris Thomas: According to the latest rumor mill, Oscar De La Hoya is considering fighting former junior welterweight Steve Forbes (33-5, 9 KOs) for his May 3rd tune-up bout. Nothing has been nailed down at this time, but the 30 year-old Forbe’s name has rose to the head of the list for potential opponents. At 5′7,” Forbes would be at a considerable disadvantage against the taller 5′11″ De La Hoya, who could stand back and pound away at him all fight long without even getting a scratch. Though it’s quite normal for fighters to fight less than impressive fighters in their tune-up bouts, I had expected a little better from De La Hoya than this, if this indeed turns out to be his opponent for his tune-up bout. Read more…

In the latest boxing news, former six-time champion Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs) will be fighting a tune-up bout on May 3rd against an un-named opponent before Oscar takes Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a rematch which will likely be held on September 20th. Best of all, De La Hoya’s tune-up fight will be shown on regular HBO, giving the fans a break from not having to fork over $49.95 for a PPV bout. Read more…