Norris Gives Willis a Ribbing in Heavyweight Win

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.

Lucky for him, he was seldom hit on the ears by Norris in Tuesday’s heavyweight fight. That’s because Norris was much too busy hitting Willis on the ribs.

And after eight rounds of a steady pounding, Willis told referee Robert Byrd that he had had enough.

“I think my ribs are broken,” Willis told the referee in the corner. “I can’t go on.”

The decision by Willis to call it a night was a merciful one for himself and the fans, who had witnessed eight rounds of the 220-pound Norris chasing the fleeing, 189-pound Willis around the ring.

Norris won all eight rounds easily.

Norris, of Campo, Calif., the former North American Boxing Federation champion, is 27-2. Willis, who has fought almost exclusively as a light heavyweight, is 19-2.

In the surprise of the night, Greg Gorrell of Wichita, Kan., a fighter with 10 losses and more inches around his waist than his shoulders, gave up 21 pounds to the massively muscled and undefeated Jimmy Ellis of Redondo Beach.

The heavyweight fight appeared to match a well-oiled Army tank against a clogged pellet gun, but in the fifth round, the tank ran out of fuel.

Gorrell, who lost the first four rounds handily, went to work against the exhausted Ellis for the rest of the fight and earned a draw in the eight-round bout, the first blemish on Ellis’ record after 13 wins.

Gorrell, who weighed 206, is 23-10-1.

In another preliminary bout, Glen Sagen of Bakersfield, who checked in with a reported amateur record of 35-2, picked the wrong night and the wrong opponent for his pro debut. He lasted just 70 seconds before being knocked out by Rocky Pepeli of Burbank.

Pepeli, 225, ran his record to 9-1 with nine knockouts by throwing just two real punches, both left hooks. The first caught Sagen on the jaw and dropped him 40 seconds into the first round. Sagen, 215, got up, but Pepeli’s second left hook dropped him hard and he was counted out.

“I didn’t know until tonight that the guy was making his pro debut,” Pepeli said, “but there was no chance of me not taking him seriously. When a guy weighs more than 200 pounds, you take him seriously. If I’m going to feel sorry for a guy, I’ll do it after I knock him out.”

In the first heavyweight bout of the night, David Kilgour of Somis stopped J. R. Frye of Phoenix at 1:36 of the fourth and final scheduled round. Kilgour, 193, is 8-1 with six knockouts. Frye, 194, is 2-4.

Frye’s trunks, however, fared better in their next fight.

For a scheduled six-round bout, Carl Williams traveled from Milwaukee, Wis., without his boxing trunks.

He borrowed Frye’s trunks in the locker room just minutes before his fight--trunks splattered with Frye’s blood--and then knocked out Troy Baudoin of Los Angeles at 2:21 of the fourth round.

Williams, 222, is 10-10 with eight knockouts. Baudoin, 235, is 5-2.