In what was little more than a tuneup for a much bigger fight, Oscar De La Hoya kicked off his retirement tour Saturday by beating a game but overmatched Steve Forbes in a 150-pound nontitle bout. De La Hoya put on a show for his hometown fans, who came out in big numbers to cheer him on against a fighter whose biggest claim to fame was losing in the final of the “Contender” reality series. He did not disappoint, battering around the smaller Forbes (33-6) in taking an easy 12-round decision in his first fight in a year. In a high-paced 12-round contest at the Home Depot Center, De La Hoya dominated with his nimble footwork, sharp jabs and telling combinations to improve his career record to 39-5 with 30 knockouts. The win set up a September rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr., who beat De La Hoya by split decision last May. De La Hoya won all 12 rounds on one judge's scorecard and 11 on the other two. He bloodied Forbes' face but failed to knock out an opponent who had never been stopped in 38 fights. Back in the ring for the first time since his split decision defeat by Mayweather in Las Vegas 12 months ago, De La Hoya dominated the last two rounds with a flurry of jabs to wrap up victory. “It's great to be able to fight here in Los Angeles,” De La Hoya said in a ringside interview in front of a crowd of 27,000 that included Hollywood actors Sylvester Stallone and Eddie Murphy and boxers Bernard Hopkins and Sugar Ray Leonard. “I knew it was going to be a tough fight and I was hoping I'd stop him or knock him out but that didn't happen. I'm a little disappointed.” De La Hoya was favored by the official ringside statistics, connecting with 253 of 810 punches thrown to 152 of 776 for Forbes. He also landed 126 power punches compared to 83 by Forbes. “Golden Boy” De La Hoya, in the twilight of his career and arguably the biggest name in boxing, began at a furious pace, peppering Forbes with close-range punches to the body and head and forcing him to back-peddle for the first three rounds. Forbes focused on defense while occasionally landing jabs to De La Hoya's head. De La Hoya connected with his trademark left hook early in the fourth round before Forbes briefly took control. He pinned the Mexican-American against the ropes with a combination of thumping rights and lefts and held the edge over that round and the fifth with a solid mix of aggression and defense. De La Hoya hit back in the sixth, a flurry of punches leaving Forbes with a cut above the right eye, and also dominated the seventh by switching his emphasis from jabs to power punches. The eighth round was tight, De La Hoya dictating early on before Forbes, dancing around the ring, surprised his opponent with several powerful jabs. Again, De la Hoya countered, forcing Forbes to retreat with lightning-fast combinations and accurate jabs to dominate rounds nine and 10. He also won the 11th, after pinning Forbes to the ropes with a flurry of body punches, and the 12th.
