Boxing

Oscar De La Hoya, the Olympic boxing champion from East Los Angeles, will turn pro Nov. 23 at the Forum, his co-manager and the Forum boxing staff said Monday.

“We’ve reached verbal agreement on everything,” said Bob Mittleman, De La Hoya’s co-manager. “It’s just a matter now of putting everything down on paper.”

A Forum spokesman said that De La Hoya’s first pro match, a six-round bout, will be billed as the main event. Mittleman said the 19-year-old De La Hoya’s first pro foe will be announced Thursday.

“We will not insult Oscar’s fans,” Mittleman said. “The kid he’s going to fight is a Philadelphia and Atlantic City fighter who is 9-3-1 and has never been stopped. We think Oscar is already a great fighter and he’s going to fight a tough kid right away.”

De La Hoya, the only American boxer who won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics, signed a pro management contract earlier this month with Mittleman and Steve Nelson, both of New York.