De La Hoya will be underdog next bout

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Underdog usually describes Oscar De La Hoya's opponents. This time, the WBO middleweight champion knows the label fits him.

De La Hoya narrowly won his middleweight debut over Felix Sturm of Germany on June 5. He struggled against his chosen patsy and looked bloated at 160 pounds.

"I wasn't in shape," De La Hoya said Tuesday. "Everything happens for a reason. It's past. I'm still learning and I'm only human."

Maybe so, but De La Hoya doesn't have time on his side.

His task gets much tougher with his Sept. 18 fight against middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins, who has made 18 title defenses and has not lost since 1993.

"I'm always the favored fighter to win," De La Hoya said, ticking off the low odds usually listed next to his name.

"For the very first time in my career and my life, no pressure whatsoever, zero. I took this fight because I know I'm going to work hard. If I don't, he knocks me out. I don't want to be knocked out, I don't want to be the laughingstock of the world."

At stake for the first time in the fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas will be four titles -- De La Hoya's WBO belt and Hopkins' WBC, WBA and IBF crowns.

"This fight is Oscar's biggest challenge and he has the opportunity, yes, as the underdog, to etch his name in history," promoter Bob Arum said.

The fight could earn the 31-year-old De La Hoya up to $30 million. The 39-year-old Hopkins said he'll earn more than $10 million -- the richest purse of his career.