Jimmy Ellis

The biggest victory in the boxing career of Chicago's Tony Willis came on Nov. 8, when he knocked out Loren Ross, the 12th-ranked heavyweight contender in the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Assn. And before Tuesday night's fight against Orlin Norris at the Country Club in Reseda, Willis noted some similarities. " 'Orlin' sounds like 'Loren,' doesn't it?" Willis asked. It does, apparently, if you've spent an extended period of your life getting punched in the ears.

Appearances can be deceiving. Just ask Wendell Robinson or other members of the Leuzinger High boys' basketball team. They learned that by experience. But the upstart Olympians did not repeat the same mistake in their 69-35 victory over North Torrance in the El Segundo tournament Wednesday night at El Segundo High. Two days earlier, Leuzinger (3-3), a team whose starting lineup includes three juniors and a sophomore, squandered a 24-point lead but managed to escape with a 61-60 victory over St.

Chuck Bodak, who has been in boxing nearly a half century, gave Jorge Paez quite a compliment recently, comparing him to Muhammad Ali, considered one of the slickest fighters of all time. "Jorge is an instinctive fighter. He has a lot of Ali's characteristics," said Bodak, who will be Paez's cutman when he challenges Tony Lopez for his International Boxing Federation junior-lightweight championship Saturday at Arco Arena.

The USC women's volleyball team has signed four high school volleyball stars, including three area girls who played on the 1986 Junior Olympic national championship team. That gives the Trojans what some consider the finest recruiting class in the nation. Megan McCallister, the Volleyball Monthly Player of the Year from Manhattan Beach Mira Costa and the No.

Serra High's basketball team grew a little stronger Friday when Leonard Butler, a 6-foot-7 forward considered one of the top juniors in Southern California, transferred from Leuzinger to the Catholic school in Gardena. Butler, who was academically ineligible last season, is the second highly regarded player to transfer to Serra this summer. Rick Price, a 6-6 senior guard rated among the nation's top college prospects, transferred last month from Long Beach St. Anthony.

The Titan Road Classic is set for Sunday at Cal State Fullerton. The event is divided into three running races. A 2-kilometer race is scheduled for 8:15 a.m., and a 5- and 10-kilometer race is set for 8:45 a.m. All races start at the Cal State Fullerton Gymnasium off State College Boulevard. The course is flat and winds through the Fullerton campus. Split times will be given at mile marks and an aid station will be provided. The course is sanctioned by The Athletic Congress (TAC).

Charlotte Bell has never run for school board or been employed by Inglewood schools, yet this ex-gang member is a power to be reckoned with in the 18,000-student district. Bell is a perennial gadfly who says she fights for the "little people." Her supporters say she is a deeply religious activist who aims to expose incompetence and corruption. But her many detractors describe her as a politically connected muckraker with a reputation for threatening and harassing people.

HBO may have presented too much of a good thing in its recent cablecast of the Evander Holyfield-Bert Cooper bout. When it added Gil Clancy as a substitute for George Foreman, who was off training for Saturday night's fight with Jimmy Ellis, it put together as good a team of boxing broadcasters as has been heard on the air in some time. Clancy, Mr. Everyman, jibed nicely with Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant.

All week, George Foreman has been saying "probably." Speaking off-the-cuff to about 500 spectators watching him work out Friday in preparation for his pay-per-view match tonight against Tommy Morrison, Foreman said "probably" three times in one sentence: "Probably, this will probably be my last fight, win or lose . . . probably," he said. Fact is, probably not.