He didn't get the knockout, but he got the work.
In Oscar De La Hoya's quest to stay sharp for his September rematch against boxing's unbeaten, pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr., the "Golden Boy" mounted a sustained attack filled with aggression and scoring left hands to dominate Steve Forbes in front of a capacity hometown crowd of 27,000 at the Home Depot Center's soccer stadium in Carson.
Judges Max De Luca and Marty Sammon awarded De La Hoya a one-sided 119-109 decision, and judge Marcos Rosales gave De La Hoya all 12 rounds, 120-108.
"I'm a little disappointed I didn't stop him or knock him out, but that didn't happen; that's the way he fights," De La Hoya said.
Former world 130-pound champion Forbes (33-6) can still claim he hasn't been knocked down in his pro career. He took some of De La Hoya's best shots, and appeared hurt on a few occasions, but he either found enough resilience to land a punch that slowed the abuse or saw De La Hoya retreat for a quick rest after barrages.
"I got stunned a couple times, not to the point I was going down," Forbes said. "He can punch, man. What's he got, 30 knockdowns? But I'm a crafty vet. I told myself I've got to stay calm, and I was able to back him off me a couple times."
Forbes has been tagged "Mayweather light," for his years of training under the guidance of Mayweather's father, Floyd Sr., and uncles Roger and Jeff Mayweather.
From that perspective, De La Hoya (39-5) rated the night a success. He adhered to his trainer Mayweather Sr.'s plan "to be more aggressive, fight straight up, stay on the balls of my feet and use my jab.
"This is the same style I'll use to beat Mayweather. . . . This is the plan to fight Mayweather."
Punch stats showed De La Hoya landed 101 more blows than Forbes, and that he nearly doubled Forbes' jabs total.
De La Hoya most visibly hurt Forbes in the fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth rounds. He unleashed a patented left hook that struck Forbes' head in the fourth, a stiff left uppercut to cut Forbes under the right eye in the sixth, two barrages in Forbes' corner in the seventh and a tiring barrage that left De La Hoya losing spit through his mouthpiece in the ninth.
Near the end of the 10th, a De La Hoya onslaught left Forbes' eyes puffy as he headed to the corner for rest.
"Steve is no slouch," Mayweather Sr. said. "I thought Oscar would have more power. Now, I know what we'll have to work on, and we will."
