Mayweather in De La Hoya's sights

CARSON, Calif. - The crowd had gone home mostly satisfied, and Oscar De La Hoya had a few minutes to shower and change from boxing trunks into something a bit less revealing. His job not yet finished for the night, he stood in the same ring where he beat Steve Forbes and wasted no time promoting his next act.

This one has already been seen before, but that didn't stop De La Hoya, who is proving as adept at promoting fights as he is in fighting them.

"I tell you one thing, I can't wait until September," De La Hoya said.

For those not briefed on De La Hoya's retirement tour plans, September means Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the rematch of the most lucrative fight in boxing history. That's assuming negotiations with Mayweather go according to plan, and with all the millions on the table there are few in boxing who doubt the two sides will come to an agreement.

All that remains is selling the fight to fans, who might have felt they didn't get their money's worth in the first fight last May.

De La Hoya will certainly do his job, just as he did to draw some 27,000 to the Home Depot Center to see what was little more than a homecoming tuneup against the undersized Forbes.

If he needs any help, former middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins is more than willing to weigh in on the side of his business partner in Golden Boy Promotions.

"It's an easy fight to promote," Hopkins said. "You just tell the people when the fight will be and where it will be. They'll show up. Believe me, they'll show up."

They showed up Saturday night in a soccer stadium for the first of three fights De La Hoya has planned to finish off his career, and had quite a bit to cheer about as he won a lopsided 12-round decision to keep those retirement plans on track. De La Hoya never knocked Forbes down or hurt him badly, but he won every round on one ringside scorecard and 11 of the 12 rounds on the other two.

More importantly to De La Hoya and his camp, he didn't fade in the late rounds against Forbes like he has in many of his fights.

"I never looked past Stevie Forbes but at the same time you use it to take that rust out, to work on things," De La Hoya said. "I wanted to get on my toes and challenge my conditioning. I'm extremely confident now I'm going to fight 12 hard rounds in September."

De La Hoya stands to benefit the most from selling boxing fans on a second fight with Mayweather, considering he earned some $45 million from the first bout he lost by split decision. And while many boxing experts believe there is little De La Hoya can do better to change the outcome against the cagey Mayweather, that won't stop the relentless promotion for the fight.

De La Hoya will not only have his performance against Forbes to help sell his cause, but will have Mayweather's father in his corner training him to fight his son. The bickering Mayweathers make great reality TV, which would do nothing to hurt the live gate or pay-per-view sales.

"This is the beginning of our preparation to fight my son," Floyd Mayweather Sr. said. "Floyd is obviously a better fighter than Stevie, but they're both tough and, honestly, Floyd doesn't throw as many punches."

De La Hoya, who has built a business empire that now includes a minority interest in Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo, was only 7-5 in fights since 1999 after winning his first 31 fights as a pro. He hasn't won a fight against a notable opponent since stopping Fernando Vargas six years ago, and seems almost desperate to end his career on a high note.

His win over Forbes did little to make that happen. Forbes was basically fighting 10 pounds over his normal weight and, with only nine knockouts in his pro career, didn't pose any danger to De La Hoya, who was able to walk through his punches.

It did, however, give De La Hoya a win he can point to, and a performance he can sell that might help people forget his ineffectiveness the first time he and Mayweather met. And it did crank up the hype machine for a fight that may not sell as well as the first but will still be boxing's biggest event of the year.

"This is very personal," De La Hoya said. "You watch, I'm going to beat the best."