De La Hoya Will Work in Garden : Boxing: He says he won’t take anything for granted against Leija tonight.

Oscar De La Hoya has been warned about the pitfalls of not being focused on the job at hand. Jesse James Leija knows about them firsthand.

So both are confident they will not trip over a poor attitude when they meet tonight in the first fight show in the main Madison Square Garden arena in 33 months.

“Success didn’t come easy, it came too fast,” said De La Hoya, a national amateur champion at age 17, an Olympic champion in 1988 and now an unbeaten pro who holds the World Boxing Organization lightweight championship at 22.

With success came money, and its temptation.

“I was concentrating too much on my golf game,” De La Hoya said.

Then came a title defense against veteran John John Molina last Feb. 18 in which De La Hoya was forced to go the full 12 rounds for the victory. Immediately, he decided the only hook he should worry about is his left hook.

“I told myself I’ve got to refocus,” De La Hoya said.

Since the Molina fight, De La Hoya has stopped Rafael Ruelas in the second round and Genaro Hernandez in the sixth to make his record 19-0 with 17 knockouts.

“We’ve seen the rainbow and we know what’s at the end of that rainbow,” said Leija, 29 The gold in the pot at the rainbow’s end quickly turned to brass for Leija because, he says, he wasn’t properly prepared for the first defense of the WBC super-featherweight title he won by outpointing Azumah Nelson on May 7, 1994.

Leija was battered by Gabriel Ruelas in a 12-round loss Sept. 17, 1994.

“When I became champion, I thought, ‘You busted your butt,’ and I relaxed,” Leija said. “I relaxed too much. I didn’t train as I was supposed to. I didn’t diet like I was supposed to. I didn’t have the right sparring partners.”

The former 130-pound champion from San Antonio has fought twice as a lightweight (135) since losing to Ruelas. Leija outpointed Jeff Mayweather and knocked out Rodney Garnett in the seventh round.

While Leija says he paid attention to details this time and can match De La Hoya in experience, he is giving away a lot in size.

Leija is 5-foot-5, six inches shorter than De La Hoya.

“What makes Oscar so good is his height and power,” Leija said.

“He’s a tough fighter,” De La Hoya said. “He’s been up against quality opponents. He’s a very smart fighter. What I have to do is just box him, I guess.”

De La Hoya weighed the class limit of 135 and Leija 134 3/4.

There is another title fight on what will be the first boxing show in the main Garden since Pernell Whitaker won the World Boxing Council welterweight championship by outpointing James “Buddy” McGirt on March 6, 1993. The most recent card in the Garden complex was a show in the Paramount on Aug. 31, 1993.

Tracy Harris Patterson (53-3-1 with 38 knockouts) will defend the International Boxing Federation junior-lightweight title against Arturo Gatti (22-1 with 19 knockouts). Gatti weighed 130, Patterson 129 3/4.

Patterson is the adopted son of Floyd Patterson, former heavyweight champion and currently chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission.