Steve Forbes, speaking at a news conference Wednesday at Mandalay Bay, says he's ready to fight the best 140-pounders. Photo by Jane Kalinowsky.

"The Contender" is set to meet a contender, which has former Las Vegas resident Steve Forbes salivating at the prospect.

Forbes, who last year reached the final of the boxing reality series "The Contender" before losing to Grady Brewer, will meet unbeaten Demetrius Hopkins on Saturday at Mandalay Bay.

Forbes, 30, is a former IBF junior lightweight champion but cherished "The Contender' experience because, he said, "we were treated like athletes."

And the experience -- despite a disappointing finish against Brewer in a fight Forbes was expected to win -- was exhilarating. It also rejuvenated his interest in boxing and has him eager for matches against the world's best 140-pounders.

Though he will be the smaller man Saturday -- Hopkins is 3 1/2 inches taller than Forbes and has a 6-inch reach advantage -- the match is more even sizewise than the bouts on the reality series, which were staged at a catch weight of 150 pounds.

For a guy who fought most of his career as a 130-pounder, it was a lot to handle.

"When I told people I was going to do it, they were like, 'What do you think you're doing fighting those junior middleweights?' " Forbes said. "I knew they were big, and I knew they would be strong, which they were, but size isn't everything."

Hopkins (25-0-1, 10 knockouts) is the nephew of light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins and has the frame to fight at middleweight and perhaps higher.

But Forbes (32-4, nine KOs) said he doesn't want stay-busy fights or ones designed to showcase him. He wants fights that challenge him, and Hopkins, praised as "a guy with boxing in his bloodlines" by his famous uncle, qualifies.

After his experience on Season 2 of "The Contender," Forbes said his eyes were opened to the way athletes at the highest level of the sport prepare.

Everything the fighters needed to succeed, Forbes said, was provided by the show's staff, down to a chef who cooked healthy meals.

"Being treated as well as I was, what that did for me was to motivate me to want to get back out there and win another championship, because I realize I still can do it," said Forbes, who has moved to Detroit. "I've been around a long time, but I believe I can compete with anybody at (140) and that I have a lot of good fights left in me."

He'll need one against Hopkins in a bout that's part of the pay-per-view undercard of the WBC super featherweight title fight between Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez.

Hopkins, 26, is one of the sport's fastest-rising young fighters and is being groomed for stardom by his uncle. Although he isn't a devastating puncher, he has begun to show more power as he has matured and has four knockouts in his last six fights after getting just five in his previous 20.

But Forbes, trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Billy Hearns, the brother of former world champion Thomas Hearns, isn't concerned.

"I think I showed in those fights (on 'The Contender') that I could compete with guys who were so much bigger than me," Forbes said. "The fights on TV were edited, but if you saw the entire fights, every one of them, I stole the show. Every one.

"The last fight, a lot was going on, and I didn't have my trainers, but I think I proved I can compete against these bigger guys. It's not an excuse. I'm looking for a title, and Hopkins is the kind of guy you have to beat to get one."