Oscar De La Hoya Will Fight on HBO

America's most popular boxer, Oscar De La Hoya, will have his first non-pay-per-view fight in more than seven years when he takes on former Contender competitor Steve Forbes on HBO on May 3.

The Cinco de Mayo weekend event will be a huge draw for De La Hoya's largely Mexican-American fan base, which is great news for HBO. But it's even better news for boxing fans that there will actually be a high-profile fight they don't have to plunk down 50 bucks to see.

However, the fight itself, which was first reported by ESPN.com, will be a mismatch. Fighting Forbes is basically an opportunity for De La Hoya to give himself a tuneup before the much-anticipated rematch with Floyd Mayweather. (Forbes seems to understand where he fits in all this, saying, "This is like another Rocky story -- the biggest name in boxing is giving a guy like me a shot.")

So, while it's great that there will be a De La Hoya fight on a channel millions of people already get, it's not a fight anyone should mistake for Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor.