A roundup of the week Sept. 27-Oct. 3

BOXING—MUHAMMAD ALI retained his heavyweight crown with a 15-round decision over Ken Norton at Yankee Stadium (page 36). Three days later, in Istanbul, Ali announced his retirement.

Guty Espadas of Mexico decked World Boxing Association flyweight champion Alfonso Lopez of Panama four times, then knocked him out in the 13th round to win the 112-pound title at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles. Espadas, 20, had signed to be paid in pesos and, because of the recent peso devaluation, his $6,400 guarantee shrank to approximately $4,000.

PRO FOOTBALL—The New England Patriots pulled their third straight upset—if that is still the proper word, considering that they had previously "upset" both the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers—by demolishing the Oakland Raiders 48-17. Second-year Quarterback Steve Grogan passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more; Patriot Running Back Sam Cunningham carried 21 times for 101 yards and caught five passes for 94. The Chicago Bears, another surprising team this season, took Washington apart 33-7. The Bears' defense was credited with six sacks for 44 yards, led by Jim Osborne's three. Washington was held to 35 yards in the first half and avoided being shut out only when Joe Theismann connected on a one-yard scoring pass with one second remaining in the game. Bob Thomas led the Chicago scoring, kicking four field goals in as many tries from 47, 34, 39 and 35 yards. Baltimore reeled off 24 points in the second quarter and further disheartened winless Tampa Bay, 42-17. The Colts scored on seven consecutive possessions, which included a pair of touchdown passes by Bert Jones and two short TD runs by Roosevelt Leaks. O. J. Simpson had his first O.J.-like game of the season, running for 130 yards and two touchdowns in Buffalo's 50-17 rout of Kansas City. Philadelphia got a fourth-down nine-yard scoring pass from Mike Boryla, then blocked a 42-yard field-goal attempt by Atlanta's Nick Mike-Mayer to get by the Falcons 14-13. Green Bay picked up its first win, upending favored Detroit 24-14. Steve Odom caught a 40-yard touchdown pass and set up two more Packer scores with an 88-yard kickoff return and a 17-yard flanker reverse. Ken Anderson paced Cincinnati's 45-24 win over Cleveland, throwing four touchdown passes. The two New York teams had another forgettable week. The Giants lost to St. Louis 27-21, and the Jets succumbed to San Francisco 17-6. Los Angeles rallied from a 14-point first-half deficit to beat Miami 31-28. Ram Quarterback James Harris threw for 436 yards, including scoring strikes of 58 and 43 yards to Ron Jessie. Tom Dempsey's 19-yard field goal with 1:56 to play wrapped the game up for the Rams. Denver's defense held San Diego, the second-highest-scoring team in the league, to 240 yards in a 26-0 defeat of the Chargers. The Broncos' Jim Turner kicked four field goals, and Rick Up-church returned a punt 92 yards for a touchdown. Houston slipped by New Orleans 31-26 as Defensive Back C.L. Whittington returned a recovered fumble 96 yards for a touchdown. The Dallas Cowboys fell behind Seattle 13-0 in the first quarter, then put the Seahawks away in the second half 28-13.

GOLF—GEORGE ARCHER shot a 13-under-par 271 to win the $135,000 Sahara Invitational in Las Vegas. On the final 18 holes he fired a 2-under 69 to beat Don January and Dave Hill by two strokes.

Led by Sandra Post's 11-under-par 211, the eight-member U.S. team won the $34,482 U.S.-Japan Ladies Professional Team Tournament played in Yokohama. The margin in the 24-match series was 37-11.

HARNESS RACING—All 10 races on Saturday night's program at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. resulted in sub-two-minute miles, which is a record for a parimutuel track. The fastest time (1:56[3/5]) was turned in by pacer Whata Baron, driven by Lew Williams, and the slowest (1:59[2/5]) by Sequoia, another pacer. The previous mark was held by Wolverine Raceway in Detroit, where nine of 10 races on one card last spring finished in less than two minutes.

HORSE RACING—In a stirring stretch run, FOREGO ($4.20), ridden by Bill Shoemaker, overtook Honest Pleasure to win the $283,700 Marlboro Cup by a head at Belmont Park. The 6-year-old gelding ran the mile-and-a-quarter in 2:00 on a muddy track, carrying top weight of 137 pounds (page 115).

Ivanjica, a 4-year-old U.S.-bred filly owned by Jacques Wertheimer, with Freddy Head aboard, won the $413,000 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris, beating Crow, a French-bred colt, by two lengths. Ivanjica, whose time for the mile-and-a-half was 2:39.4, dumped her jockey at the finish when a photographer ran onto the track. Head was not hurt.

MOTOR SPORTS—JAMES HUNT of Britain held off Patrick Depailler of France in a Tyrrell 34 to win the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park, Ontario in his McLaren M23. Hunt, who had been outspokenly critical of the 2.459-mile course before the race, averaged 117.843 mph and now trails Niki Lauda of Austria in the Formula I driver standings by eight points with two races still to come. Next: this Sunday's U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Cale Yarborough, driving a Chevrolet, won his fourth straight Grand National stock-car race, defeating Benny Parsons, also in a Chevrolet, in the $70,010 Wilkes 400 at North Wilkesboro, N.C. Yarborough averaged 96.380 mph in the 250-mile, 400-lap race over the‚Öù-mile track.

TENNIS—BRIAN GOTTFRIED defeated Arthur Ashe 6-2, 6-2 to win the $125,000 Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles. Stan Smith and Bob Lutz beat Ashe and Charles Pasarell 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 for the doubles crown.

RETIRED: WALT ALSTON, 64, after 23 years as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. During his tenure, the Dodgers won 2,042 games, seven National League pennants and four World Series—the first in 1955, when the team was still in Brooklyn. By the club's choice, each of his 23 contracts with the Dodgers, beginning in 1954, were for one year only. He was replaced by Dodger Coach TOM LASORDA, 49.

RETIRED: DANNY MURTAUGH, 59, for the fourth and probably final time as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Murtaugh managed the Pirates from 1957 to 1964, in 1967, from 1970 to 1971 and from 1973 until the present, establishing a major league record as most different times manager of the same club. In all, he led Pittsburgh to three division titles, two league titles and two world championships.

TRADED: DAVE SCHULTZ, pugnacious left winger for four seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers, to the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League for "future considerations." Schultz, 26, last season was one of the most heavily penalized players in the history of the game, receiving 307 minutes in the penalty box, mostly for fighting.

UPHELD: By Federal District Court JUDGE SAM POINTER in Birmingham, a National Collegiate Athletic Association limitation on the size of coaching staffs. The rule had been challenged by Alabama Assistant Football Coach Dude Hennessey and Assistant Basketball Coach Wendell Hudson, who charged that the NCAA restriction was depriving them of their jobs and obstructing their attempts to find similar coaching positions elsewhere.