LOS ANGELES — Oscar De La Hoya hasn't fought much in recent years, and there's only so much time he can spend in the office tending to business matters. So he's had time, and lots of it, to plan for a future that doesn't include the risk of his handsome face being rearranged by a wayward punch.

"I'm the stubborn one," De La Hoya said. "I think I can still do this, and it makes me want to keep doing it."

At the age of 35 he won't be doing it much longer, assuming he sticks to a plan he carefully crafted to say goodbye to a career that has made him the richest and most successful fighter of his time. And that's a big assumption, considering De La Hoya is a fighter and fighters rarely know when to quit.

But he insists boxing fans will see the last of him this year in a series of three fights beginning with his bout tonight against light-hitting Steve Forbes.

"I'm going to feel very sad to retire," De La Hoya said. "But I'm 35 and it's time to go."

Ever the promoter, De La Hoya has plotted a retirement strategy that will maximize both his exposure and his bank account. It starts with a homecoming of sorts for the product of East Los Angeles before a crowd that could reach 30,000 at the Home Depot Center.

The fight is little more than a tuneup for De La Hoya, who hasn't fought since losing a split decision to Mayweather a year ago. He hand picked Forbes for the comeback effort, hoping to put on a performance that will make boxing fans forget that he has won only two of his last five fights and hasn't had a win over a significant opponent since stopping Vargas in September 2002.

It's not that his cold streak has cost him any popularity. He remains the only fighter who can sell big pay-per-views like the record 2.4 million for Mayweather, and the only fighter who would even dream of trying to fill the Home Depot Center, where tickets are priced starting at $25.

But even though De La Hoya remains a huge draw and a big fan favorite, a look at his record shows two very different career halves. The first half was the De La Hoya who was 31-0 before employing a disastrous strategy and losing his September 1999 fight with Felix Trinidad when he ran in the final rounds, while the second is his 7-5 record since then.