BRIEFLY : PASTRANO, FORMER CHAMP, DIES AT 62.

Willie Pastrano, a light heavyweight champion in the 1960s and the man who taught Muhammad Ali to dance in the ring, is dead at age 62.

He died Saturday of inoperable cancer that started in his liver and spread.

Nicknamed ``Willie the Wisp,'' Pastrano had a record of 63-13-8, with 14 knockouts, fighting light heavyweights and heavyweights in his prime.

Pastrano had fought 77 times before winning the light heavyweight title from Harold Johnson in 1963. He lost the crown when he was stopped by Jose Torres on March 30, 1965.

Pastrano then began to abuse drugs and alcohol, nearly dying of a heroin overdose. He eventually straightened his life out and returned to New Orleans, where he dabbled in boxing and lived on Social Security disability checks.

In the days when boxers trained under spartan conditions, Pastrano did the road work, hit the bags and sparred countless rounds. However, he never subscribed to the theory that abstinence produced better boxers.

Former three-time boxing champion Wilfredo Gomez was arrested and charged with cocaine possession in Puerto Rico.

Police said they found Gomez, 41, using cocaine in his car along a stretch of public beach near the town of Loiza and officers confiscated six small bags of the drug. Police were conducting a routine search of the area when they spotted Gomez alone in his car.

Rodney Jones knocked out Craig Kikta at 2:25 of the first round to retain his NABO junior middleweight title at the Forum.

Jones, from Campo, Calif., stunned Kikta with a straight left, then followed with a left uppercut that floored the challenger, who was counted out.

Jones, winning his 15th consecutive fight, is 19-2 with 11 knockouts.

NBA: Phoenix Suns guard Kevin Johnson might require arthroscopic surgery on his chronically sore right knee, the team doctor said.

Johnson, who has missed the team's last four games because of tendinitis in the knee, was re-evaluated Monday.

All-Star guard Penny Hardaway, troubled by tendinitis in his left knee, has been placed on the injured list.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: The winner of the Lou Groza Award for the top college place kicker will be announced tonight at a banquet in West Palm Beach.

Candidates are Chris Sailer of UCLA, a Notre Dame High graduate; Sims Lenhardt of Duke; and Martin Gramatica of Kansas State.

University of North Carolina defensive coordinator Carl Torbush was promoted to head coach after playing a key role in leading the Tar Heels to their sixth straight bowl appearance this season. He replaces Mack Brown.

OLYMPICS: The U.S. Olympic Committee has asked the FBI to investigate an Internet site that sells banned steroids and offers tips on avoiding detection of performance-enhancing drugs.