By Jake Donovan

Cinco de Mayo is around the corner, which only means one thing in boxing these days: time for the annual Oscar de la Hoya classic.

The weekend holds true this year, but comes with a twist: the promise that it will be Oscar’s first fight of the year, rather than his only fight.

The running joke within the industry is the Los Angeles homecoming against Stevie Forbes (May3, HBO, 10PM ET/7PM PT) is little more than an infomercial for a planned September rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Oscar is well aware of what’s being said, but insists that all he’s concerned with is what’s at stake, as well as what’s immediately in his face.

“For this fight, there’s no looking past Steve Forbes,” said the sport’s biggest attraction during an international teleconference earlier this week. “I’m training as if it’s the most important fight of my life. I don’t feel like a champion; I’m not a champion. I’m a contender; I’m embracing this fight like a contender.”

It is the first time in seven years that, no matter the outcome of the fight, de la Hoya will both enter and exit the ring without alphabet hardware. His title loss to Mayweather last year placed him in contender status for this fight, where he faces Contender alum Stevie Forbes, who was a 10-9 round away from winning Season Two of the reality show.

Forbes’ appearing on The Contender is a big reason why he lands one of the sport’s most lucrative assignments next weekend. Also adding to the plot is his fighting style, and the surroundings in which he trained. He’s the best-known opponent to boast a style similar to – or at least be familiar enough with – Floyd Mayweather Jr, whom Oscar so desperately wants to rematch to avenge his most recent loss.

“This fight will benefit me a lot, with Stevie having a somewhat similar style to Floyd Jr. He moves his feet a bit but for the most part will stay in front of me. The style change that we’re bringing into this fight is something I’ve always been capable of, but haven’t been doing in recent fights. The one thing people may have forgotten is that I can box on my toes, be elusive, pop my jab from my toes. The main thing is that we will relax, and have fun in there.”

And of course win the fight, which he doesn’t take as a given.

“Anyone who thinks I’m overlooking Stevie Forbes is sadly mistaken.”

His newfound dedication to the sport comes two-fold. de la Hoya (38-5, 30KO) has been insisting for the past few months that 2008 will be his final year as a professional fighter, and he wants to go out with a bang - “Forbes in May, Mayweather in September, then a big fight in December.”

The other side comes from his reunion with Floyd Mayweather Sr, who has been in Oscar’s corner for the better part of the decade, but was removed from the fold for “The World Awaits.” For that event, de la Hoya went with Freddie Roach. It was a good fit, but there still felt like something was missing. It was no slight toward Roach, whom Oscar holds in the highest regard, but more so his overwhelming respect for Papa Floyd.

“Freddie Roach is one of the top two or three trainers in the world, but Floyd Mayweather Sr and I just have this connection. It’s always been there. When I called Floyd Sr a couple of months after the Mayweather fight, it was like nothing happened. I called and asked him, “Ready now?” He said “Absolutely, I’m ready to get back in there and work on a few things.”

“We’ve been talking about my last performance almost every day. I’m training for Floyd Mayweather, Jr now. My focus is of course on Stevie Forbes, but my main goal is to beat Mayweather. I want to be in tremendous shape. I have to starve myself to make 150, I have to really work, but I’ve been on weight for over a week.” We had that little glitch in the last fight, but things are now back to normal.”

It’s the familiarity in the corner that Oscar views as that extra edge heading into future fights. Now comes the hard part; training for a fight, knowing a bigger fight lies ahead. The last time Oscar attempted that was his June 2004 bout with Felix Sturm, which was supposed to be means for testing the middleweight waters before gunning for Bernard Hopkins three months later.

The night nearly proved disastrous, with de la Hoya looking worse – physically and from bell to bell – in that fight than he has in any other bout in which he was declared the winner. Very few agreed with the controversial decision, 115-113 across the board for Oscar. But despite registering the 37th win of his career, Oscar felt like anything but a winner that night.