South African Defends Title for 12th Time : Boxing: Mitchell takes on Sacramento’s Lopez in junior-lightweight matchup of champions.

Boxing’s road warrior and a guy who rarely strays from home will meet in a rare unification championship fight tonight at Arco Arena.

South African Brian Mitchell, the World Boxing Assn. junior-lightweight champion, fights Tony Lopez of Sacramento, the International Boxing Federation titleholder.

Mitchell will earn $100,000 tonight, plus another $125,000 in marketing windfalls in South Africa--if he wins. Lopez will make $215,000. But for both, the stakes are considerably higher. The winner will be positioned to challenge undisputed lightweight champion Pernell Whitaker in what would be a seven-digit payday.

Mitchell, from Johannesburg, is a 29-year-old who can’t fight in his own country. Since the WBA banned title fights in South Africa, he has defended his championship in the United States, France, Italy, Spain and England. He has defended his title 11 times in one of boxing’s longest reigns.

An aggressive puncher who is said to cut frequently, Mitchell has a 42-1-1 record. The lone loss occurred in 1982, a decision by Jacob Morake. Mitchell then defeated Morake three times. After the third victory, in 1985, Morake died of injuries he had suffered in the bout.

Lopez’s promoter, Don Chargin, said he doesn’t expect tonight’s show to break the California-record $601,000 gate that Lopez and Jorge Paez drew last Sept. 22 at Arco Arena before 15,008. Chargin is predicting a crowd of about 10,000.

The fight is not being televised anywhere in the United States, but co-promoters Chargin and Cedric Kushner sold TV rights to Asian and European networks and to Mnet, South Africa’s biggest cable system.

“This is the biggest fight in the history of South Africa,” Kushner said. “I’m told 90% of the 1.5 million Mnet households will be tuned to the fight. When Brian signed to fight Tony, it was Page 1 news all over South Africa.”

Mitchell, who is white, has a black American trainer, Murphy Griffith of San Diego. Mitchell trained for most of last year in San Diego under Griffith, and Mitchell’s son was born there.

“My goal one day is to have what my son has, a U.S. passport,” Mitchell says.

Of 12 South African national champions, nine are black. Three-quarters of Mitchell’s 44 opponents, Kushner said, have been black.

Mitchell comes from championship stock. His father was a South African national bantamweight champion in the 1950s, and his grandfather was a pro boxer in the 1920s.

Whereas Mitchell’s career has been a trip without end, 30 of Lopez’s 38 fights have been in Sacramento. The other eight have been in Reno or Stateline, Nev.

Lopez, 27, has a 36-2 record and has won his IBF title twice. He took the championship in 1988 from Rocky Lockridge, but lost it to John John Molina in 1989. Lopez regained the title in a rematch last May, then beat Paez.

Lopez has had difficulty coming down to 130 pounds, but he is said to have come down early for this fight. He is a fundamentally solid boxer, makes few errors and is sound defensively. Says his longtime trainer, Will Edgington: “Tony is a very consistent boxer because he knows what he does best, and he does those things, over and over, until he wins. He doesn’t try to do things in there that he knows he can’t do.”