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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 tomorrow 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 appetiser 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 tuneup 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."
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