Garza Will Defend Junior-Welterweight Title

Loreto Garza and Vinny Pazienza, two junior-welterweights who aspire to fight super-lightweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez, will meet in a small-scale pay-per-view boxing show at Arco Arena tonight.

Actually, Pazienza, should he beat Garza, might even settle for a fight with Ray Mancini in Atlantic City, N.J., for North America’s “Italian-American championship.” There’s no such title, but in boxing all you need to do to create one is print up the posters.

At stake for Garza, who will defend his newly won World Boxing Assn. junior-welterweight title, is a possible match with Mancini, if he can’t get Chavez. Garza and Pazienza figure to attract about 8,000 tonight, which would figure as California’s--and Sacramento’s--second-largest boxing gate this year. On Sept. 22, Garza stablemate Tony Lopez drew a state-record gate of $601,000 and a crowd of 15,000-plus when he beat Jorge Paez at Arco Arena.

Garza, who won the championship from Argentine Juan Coggi (who is on tonight’s undercard) in Paris Aug. 17, is 27-1 with 23 knockouts. He hasn’t lost since 1983. He will earn $100,000 tonight. Pazienza, from Cranston, R.I., is a former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion. He has a 33-4 record with 23 knockouts and will make $50,000 tonight. He won his lightweight title by beating Greg Haugen in 1987, but lost it to Haugen in a rematch.

Since then, he has also lost to Roger Mayweather and Hector Camacho. In his last fight, he beat Haugen in a 10-rounder.

This is a pay-per-view show because of the across-the-board boxing cutback by the networks. It’s available in about 11 million homes at about $15, and the promoters hope for a gross TV income of $825,000.

“The networks would have paid $125,000 to $150,000 for it, if any of them had had dates available, but it would have been a daytime fight,” said Don Chargin, Garza’s promoter. “We think we’ll make that up as a nighttime fight, because we’ll have a much bigger live gate.”

Two undercard 10-rounders match junior-lightweights Rowdy Welch (12-1) and Mauro Gutierrez (44-13-5), and junior-welterweights Coggi (46-1-2) and Alberto Alcaraz (21-10). Also, in a six-round junior-lightweight bout, 1988 Olympic trials sensation Ed Hopson (7-0) will meet Carlos Marques (9-4).