LAS VEGAS – Oscar De La Hoya is changing his tune from Latin rhythms back to the sounds of leather against flesh.

"I've decided just to stick with boxing, focus on boxing until I retire," said the former champion in four weight classes, who has recorded a CD that was nominated for a Grammy for best Latin pop album of 2000.

On Saturday night, De La Hoya will meet Arturo Gatti in a 12-round bout, his first fight since losing the WBC welterweight title to Shane Mosley on a split decision last June 17. The bout is expected to start about 11 p.m. ET.

During his nine-month layoff from boxing, the 28-year-old De La Hoya concentrated on singing.

"One day I said that I was enjoying myself, so why go back to boxing," he said. "But on every other day I was missing boxing."

He said his goals are to win a super welterweight title and to get and win rematches against Felix Trinidad and Mosley, the only two men to have beaten him.

De La Hoya, a prohibitive favorite to win his welterweight match against Gatti in the MGM Grand Garden, is scheduled to challenge WBC super welterweight (154 pounds) champion Javier Castillejo of Spain June 9.

Even if he beats Castillejo, De La Hoya said, he might drop back to 147 pounds. That would enable him to challenge Mosley, the WBC welterweight champion.

De La Hoya has indicated he would prefer a rematch against Trinidad before one with Mosley, but it appears a Mosley rematch is more makable. Trinidad, the WBA-IBF super welterweight champion, is scheduled to challenge WBA middleweight champion William Joppy on May 12. If he beats Joppy, he would fight in September against the winner of the middleweight title match between IBF champion Bernard Hopkins and WBC champion Keith Holmes April 14.

Trinidad won the WBC welterweight title from De La Hoya on a decision Sept. 18, 1999.

De La Hoya (32-2, 26 knockouts) will be fighting with a new promoter, Jerry Perenchio, and a new trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., who is the father of the WBC super featherweight champion.

"For the first time I felt I'm going in with a guy who doesn't need money and doesn't want to make money off me," De La Hoya said of Perenchio, head of the Univision Spanish-language network, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes Magazine at $1.5 billion.

Perenchio promoted "The Fight" between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali 30 years ago.

About Mayweather, De La Hoya said, "If I had him a few years back, I'd still be unbeaten, I'd still be on top of the game. I am very focused on boxing and I have no other choice with Mayweather training me. It is something I enjoy, learning from him."

Gatti, who is 33-4 with 27 knockouts, is a former IBF junior lightweight (130 pounds) champion.

As for being a big underdog, he said, "I haven't even thought about it. I came to Las Vegas to fight. Oscar is not taking me seriously."

The 28-year-old Gatti, a native of Montreal living in Jersey City, N.J., is getting $1.4 million, while De La Hoya is getting $5 million.

The HBO telecast begins at 10:45 p.m. ET and 10:45 p.m. PT.

After the De La Hoya-Gatti match, viewers will see a tape of Saturday's WBO heavyweight title defense by Vladimir Klitschko of Ukraine against Derrick Jefferson of Detroit at Munich, Germany.