© Tom Hogan

Tonight at the Home Depot Centre in Carson, CA, light middleweight Oscar De La Hoya makes a rare appearance in the ring when he takes on Steve Forbes over a scheduled 12 rounds.

De La Hoya, 38-5 (30), will be fighting for just the third time since being stopped by World Middleweight Champion Bernard Hopkins in 2004 and will be looking to improve upon his 2-3 mark since 2003.

At 35 years of age and a successful boxing promoter, "The Golden Boy" is coming off a major loss to Floyd Mayweather last May and this contest against Forbes is clearly a tune up bout for another crack at Mayweather later this Autumn.

Forbes, 33-5 (9), is a former IBF Super Featherweight Champion who's career has been on the downside since losing his title to Carlos Hernandez in 2003.

The 31 year old Las Vegas resident lost a WBA 130 lb challenge to Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai in 2004 and promptly moved up to light welter and welter where he won eight fights against solid grade B opposition.

The split decision loss to the much bigger Grady Brewer in 2006 was very close but Forbes was shown the door in a wide points loss to Demetrius Hopkins for the USBA Light Welter crown last March. This past October, "2 Pound" outfought former wonder teen Francisco Bojado to win a ten round decision a few pounds north of the 140 lb limit.

De La Hoya will hold a massive size advantage over Forbes but this is a very dangerous bout for the Southern California legend as a loss to his cagey opponent would put his big money rematch against Mayweather on very dubious footing.

The best chance for Forbes to pull off a win is to make De La Hoya come forward and ideally miss most of his efforts, stealing rounds through his superb counterpunching abilities before taking it to a worn out Oscar in the later rounds.

But given the big disadvantages he faces, that's a tall order for Forbes.

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