De La Hoya to battle ‘The Contender’

Oscar De La Hoya feels like a contender, which is only right because he’s fighting a guy from “The Contender.”

Never mind that Steve Forbes couldn’t even win the now-defunct reality television show. He’s a big winner now that De La Hoya hand-picked him to be his latest comeback opponent next week in Los Angeles.

Forbes is used to following scripts, so this one should be simple enough. His job is to make De La Hoya feel like a champion again, just in time for his September rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

There’s really no other purpose for the May 3 fight, other than to draw a big crowd to the Home Depot Center for something other than watching David Beckham sit on the bench. Forbes was carefully selected for the purpose of building De La Hoya up so that he and potential future ticket buyers might better forget his recent struggles in the ring.

Just in case that isn’t enough, De La Hoya has another plot line up his promotional sleeve. Yes, that will be Floyd Mayweather Sr. back in his corner, setting up a father-son clash for the fall that will surely sell a ton of pay-per-views.

And you thought pro wrestling had good storylines?

De La Hoya was on the phone Wednesday from Puerto Rico trying to make it all sound legitimate, and he did his usual professional job. Some may question whether the 35-year-old has any business still fighting, but he has certainly learned his craft as head of his own Golden Boy Promotions.

His trainer is back, he’s desperate to prove himself again, and he wants to leave boxing on a positive note. Oh yeah, he’s learned something new in the ring, proving that if your name is Mayweather you can teach an old fighter new tricks.

“After all these years I found out how to relax in the ring, instead of fighting tense,” De La Hoya said.

It all sounded good, but De La Hoya always talks a good fight. His place in boxing history may someday be questioned, but the guy sure knows how to sell himself.

By the time he was finished, I was almost ready to buy a $25 ticket in the rafters myself. Alas, the cheap seats are all sold out, though for $600 you can say you sat ringside for an Oscar De La Hoya fight.

De La Hoya expects a crowd of some 30,000 will show up in his hometown return for what on paper looks like nothing more than an exhibition. That he can sell tickets so easily despite losing most of his high profile fights in recent years simply underscores the fact that he is the one boxer who can still come through at the box office.

He and Mayweather sold a record 2.4 million pay-per-views when they met last year in the fight that was supposed to save boxing. The rematch won’t match that, but it will still do big numbers despite a consensus among boxing experts that there is nothing De La Hoya can do any better than he did in the first fight, which he lost by split decision.

Without De La Hoya, Mayweather would be fighting for a few million here and there. With him, he’s fighting for more money than even Mike Tyson would be able to blow.

What’s even more amazing is that De La Hoya continues to sell despite losing three of his last five fights, and looking and feeling like a loser in a fourth (against Felix Sturm). Go back five years and he has had only one clear cut win, a knockout of chain-smoking Ricardo Mayorga.

He sells not because of his boxing skills but because of his name and his aura. Forbes ranked De La Hoya No. 46 on his top 100 celebrity list last year, just behind Adam Sandler and just in front of the cast of “Desperate Housewives.”

Actually, that was Forbes magazine, not Steve Forbes. But you get the idea. He’s popular.

Steve Forbes isn’t, and that won’t change after this fight. De La Hoya may not be the fighter his admirers think he is, but he’s still a class above the journeyman fighters who signed up for the “Contender” series and he shouldn’t have any trouble with a fighter who had no real punch when he fought at 130 pounds and figures to have even less at the 149-pound fight weight.

One of De La Hoya’s better lines Wednesday came inadvertently when he was asked what hope Forbes, who has lost two of his last three fights, might cling to in the fight.

“Probably he’s thinking why should he [De La Hoya] train for me. I’m just Stevie Forbes,” De La Hoya said.

Actually, De La Hoya says he has trained hard for his first fight in a year, and with good reason.

He wants to fight three times this year and retire, his bank account fattened and some of the shine restored to his once illustrious career.

That’s the script, though De La Hoya has a long history of deviating from his best-laid plans.

About the only thing for certain is that Forbes knows his role in this farce.