LOS ANGELES -- It appears the long-awaited bout between Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas for the WBC and WBA junior middleweight championships will be held May 4 in Las Vegas.

"They are very, very close," Vargas' manager, Rolando Arellano, said Tuesday. "Our promoter, Gary Shaw, is in Las Vegas meeting with Bob Arum. We expect that within the next 48 hours we will have this fight with Oscar De La Hoya."

Arellano said the bout was tentatively set for May 4, probably at the Mandalay Bay Casino.

"Fernando's looking forward to this fight, it's the fight of his dreams, the fight of his life," Arellano said.

Earlier in the week, Vargas told KEYT television in Santa Barbara he will receive $6 million plus a percentage of pay-per-view and the gate, and De La Hoya will earn $20 million plus a percentage of pay-per-view and the gate.

"Everybody knows we've had beefs, I have no respect for him whatsoever," the 24-year-old Vargas said of De La Hoya, who turns 29 next month.

Vargas is the WBA junior middleweight champion while De La Hoya holds the WBC crown.

De La Hoya has won championships in five divisions in his career -- junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight.