De La Hoya fights Saturday night against light-hitting Steve Forbes in what is scheduled to be the first of three fights before he calls it a career by the end of the year. It's a homecoming of sorts for the fighter from East L.A., but merely an appetizer for bigger things later this year against Floyd Mayweather Jr., and possibly Miguel Cotto.

De La Hoya hand-picked Forbes, and is a prohibitive 17-1 favorite to beat the former 130-pound 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 4 years ago, 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 (Golden Boy Promotions)he also is for this fight. "I fell for that trap before. Every fighter I fight goes to a whole new level when they fight me."

With good reason. Not too many other fighters have made the millions De La Hoya has, and no other fighters are getting their own statue in front of the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.

De La Hoya will be memorialized there next to Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky, the perfect spot for a hometown hero.

"I'm blown away by it," De La Hoya said. "I'm going to drive by it every day just to make sure they don't egg it."

De La Hoya, who has moved past boxing to become a promoter and business operator, doesn't need the money he will make to fight Forbes in the first boxing match at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., the field where David Beckham plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy. He owns an office building, newspapers, Ring Magazine, and recently bought an interest in the Houston Dynamos of Major League Soccer.

But at the age of 35 he still wants to fight, and wants to go out big in a pair of megafights once his business with Forbes is taken care of.

De La Hoya has lost three of his last five fights and hasn't beaten an opponent of note in 6 years, but he remains hugely popular. Nearly 30,000 fans are expected for the fight, which will be televised by HBO.

"I want to knock him out," De La Hoya said of Forbes. "I want to look special. This is what I need."

Forbes (33-5-0, 9 KOs) isn't a bad fighter by any means, but there's a reason De La Hoya (38-5-0, 30 KOs) is such a favorite in what essentially is a tuneup fight for a September rematch with Mayweather, who beat him by split decision a year ago. He's smaller than De La Hoya and easy enough to find in the ring, a combination that moved him to the top of the list when De La Hoya was looking for someone to fill the role of opponent. *