Juan Martin Coggi
Encyclopedia
Juan Martin Coggi is a former boxer from Argentina
. A native of Santa Fe
(he lived as a child until a few years Brandsen
, Buenos Aires Province
), which was also the birthplace of Carlos Monzón
, Coggi was a three time world light welterweight
champion. He had 75 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws, with 44 wins by knockout. He never lost a fight by knockout.
Horacio Valdes in four rounds at La Plata
. Coggi won seven of his first ten bouts by knockout. The first boxer to last the scheduled distance with him was Viterman Sanchez, who lost a six round decision to Coggi on 7 May 1982.
Coggi went undefeated for 21 bouts, with 11 knockout wins. Then, on 9 March 1985, he met Adolfo Arce Rossi in Buenos Aires
. Arce Rossi became the first boxer to defeat Coggi by outpointing him over ten rounds. After one more win, Coggi fought to a draw over ten rounds with Ramon Collado, on 20 June of that same year.
Coggi went on a six-fight winning streak before he and Collado met again. Once again, Collado held him to a ten round draw, on 19 July 1986.
On 25 October of that year, Coggi won the Argentine light welterweight title, knocking out Hugo Hernandez
in three rounds.
placed Coggi on top of their list of challengers for the world crown at the light welterweight division. After one more win, Coggi challenged for the world title for the first time.
The WBA's world champion, Patrizio Oliva
, had dethroned Coggi's countryman, Ubaldo Sacco, to win the world championship. So the fight between Coggi and Oliva generated much interest among Argentine boxing
fans. Coggi's first title try was also his first fight abroad, as the fight was held in Ribera, Italy, on 4 July 1987. Coggi caused a minor upset when he knocked out Oliva in three rounds to become world champion.
Like Monzon, Coggi also became well liked in Italy despite the fact he had beaten an Italian for the world championship. Coggi would fight in Italy a number of times during the rest of his career. His first title defense came in Italy, when he knocked out Sang-Ho Lee in two rounds on 7 May 1988.
After beating Lee, he would win four non-title bouts in his country, including two ten round decisions over Jorge Tejada, who later became a contender in the welterweight
division.
For his second defense, Coggi returned to Italy, where he defeated perennial contender Harold Brazier
of the United States by a twelve round unanimous decision on 21 January 1989.
His third defense, on 29 April 1989, was also held in Italy. He defeated future world champion Akinobu Hiranaka
by a twelve round decision. However, this match was controversial for the decision which gave Italian-Argentine boxer Coggi excessive favor, while Coggi was knocked down by Hiranaka twice at 3rd round, and he has been inferior to Hiranaka at performance throughout 12 rounds. Among many boxing fans, there have been the strong voice that the victory should have been given to Hiranaka, since the match was owned by him.
After two non title wins, Coggi had four fights in France, beginning with a fourth round knockout victory over Jesse Williams
in another non-title bout.
On 24 March 1990, Coggi beat the former lightweight champion José Luis Ramírez
by a twelve round unanimous decision to retain the title. After beating Danilo Cabrera by knockout in round five, Coggi defended his title in Nice against the relatively unheralded Loreto Garza
of Sacramento, California
, on 17 August. This time around, it was Coggi's turn to lose in a mild upset, as Garza became the champion by outpointing Coggi over twelve rounds.
On his next fight, held on 11 November at Buenos Aires, Coggi once again outpointed Tejada over ten rounds.
His next fight happened under extremely unlikely circumstances: he was in Sacramento to watch Garza defend his world title and, at the same time, challenge him to a rematch, when one of the boxers to be featured as part of the night's undercard suffered a car accident at the Arco Arena
parking lot and broke his wrist
. Coggi took on the role of substitute fighter, and he beat Alberto Alcaraz by a knockout in round seven, 1 December.
Coggi went on to win his next eleven fights, six of them by knockout, before challenging Morris East
for the WBA title on 12 January 1993, in Mar del Plata
. Coggi became a light welterweight champion for the second time that night when he knocked East out in eight rounds.
On 10 April 1993, he made his first defense of his second reign, knocking out perennial Puerto Rican
world title challenger Joe Rivera in seven rounds, in Mar del Plata. Next, he defended against Hiroyuki Yoshino
on 23 June. In what marked his Asian debut, Coggi knocked Yoshino out in five rounds, in a fight held in Tokyo, Japan.
He defended his title three more times in 1993. On 13 August, he outpointed Jose Rafael Barbosa over twelve rounds in Buenos Aires, once again, retaining the world title. On 24 September, he knocked out Guillermo Cruz in ten rounds at Tucuman, and then, on 11 December, he closed 1993 by knocking out Eder Gonzalez, also in Tucuman, in the seventh round.
He and Gonzalez had a rematch on 18 March 1994. In what marked Coggi's American debut, he knocked Gonzalez out in three rounds at Las Vegas, Nevada
, once again, retaining the title.
, who relieved Coggi of the title by beating him by a twelve round unanimous decision. Coggi suffered three knockdowns during the fight.
Coggi had two more wins, then he faced Randall for the second time. Coggi became champion for the third time on 13 January 1996, when he beat Randall by a fifth round technical decision
. Randall was controlling the fight when he went down when his feet became tangled with Coggi in the third round. Because Coggi landed a glancing blow as Randall went down, Coggi was credited with a knockdown by the referee. In the fifth round, the two fighters clashed heads and Coggi walked to his corner and lay down. The referee tried to convince Coggi to fight but he was either unwilling or unable to do so. The ringside physician later said that Coggi was coherent and when Coggi was examined at a hospital after the fight, he was given a clean bill of health. The fight went to the scorecards and Coggi was ahead on all judges' cards by one point (due to the knockdown called against Randall in the third round). Due to the controversial nature of the match, the WBA ordered a third bout between the two rivals.
The third fight between Coggi and Randall came on 16 August, at Buenos Aires. Coggi suffered a knockdown in the second round, which would prove to be pivotal in the end, as Randall pulled a unanimous but close decision to recover the title.
in Italy.
. His son, Martin Antonio Coggi, is a professional boxer.
Coggi was one of Raúl Alfonsín
's favorite boxers: in a rare opportunity for a boxer, President Alfonsín invited Coggi to his presidential home after Coggi became world champion for the first time.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. A native of Santa Fe
Santa Fe, Argentina
Santa Fe is the capital city of province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It sits in northeastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies opposite the city of Paraná, to which it is linked by the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel. The city is also connected by canal with the...
(he lived as a child until a few years Brandsen
Brandsen
Brandsen is a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the head town of the Brandsen Partido.-History:The city built up around a railway station named Coronel Brandsen which was named after Colonel Federico de Brandsen, who fought in the liberation of Chile and Peru and died heroicly at the...
, Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
), which was also the birthplace of Carlos Monzón
Carlos Monzón
Carlos Monzón was an Argentine professional boxer who held the undisputed world middleweight title for 7 years, during which he successfully defended the title 14 times....
, Coggi was a three time world light welterweight
Light welterweight
-Professional boxing:The light welterweight class is a weight division in professional boxing that has a limit of 63.5 kg or 140 pounds...
champion. He had 75 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws, with 44 wins by knockout. He never lost a fight by knockout.
Early boxing career
After a stellar amateur career, Coggi became a professional boxer on 2 April 1982, knocking outKnockout
A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
Horacio Valdes in four rounds at La Plata
La Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
. Coggi won seven of his first ten bouts by knockout. The first boxer to last the scheduled distance with him was Viterman Sanchez, who lost a six round decision to Coggi on 7 May 1982.
Coggi went undefeated for 21 bouts, with 11 knockout wins. Then, on 9 March 1985, he met Adolfo Arce Rossi in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. Arce Rossi became the first boxer to defeat Coggi by outpointing him over ten rounds. After one more win, Coggi fought to a draw over ten rounds with Ramon Collado, on 20 June of that same year.
Coggi went on a six-fight winning streak before he and Collado met again. Once again, Collado held him to a ten round draw, on 19 July 1986.
On 25 October of that year, Coggi won the Argentine light welterweight title, knocking out Hugo Hernandez
Hugo Hernández
Hugo Hernández is a Mexican boxer in the Light Welterweight division.-Pro career:On July 24, 2010 Hernández will be fighting against undefeated Antonio Lozada jr. of Tijuana, for the WBC FECARBOX Light Welterweight title.-External links:...
in three rounds.
Championship career
Despite having a record that included no one of apparent relevance, the WBAWorld Boxing Association
The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
placed Coggi on top of their list of challengers for the world crown at the light welterweight division. After one more win, Coggi challenged for the world title for the first time.
The WBA's world champion, Patrizio Oliva
Patrizio Oliva
Patrizio Oliva is an Italian former boxer, who won the gold medal in the light welterweight division at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as an amateur and the WBA World light welterweight title as a professional....
, had dethroned Coggi's countryman, Ubaldo Sacco, to win the world championship. So the fight between Coggi and Oliva generated much interest among Argentine boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
fans. Coggi's first title try was also his first fight abroad, as the fight was held in Ribera, Italy, on 4 July 1987. Coggi caused a minor upset when he knocked out Oliva in three rounds to become world champion.
Like Monzon, Coggi also became well liked in Italy despite the fact he had beaten an Italian for the world championship. Coggi would fight in Italy a number of times during the rest of his career. His first title defense came in Italy, when he knocked out Sang-Ho Lee in two rounds on 7 May 1988.
After beating Lee, he would win four non-title bouts in his country, including two ten round decisions over Jorge Tejada, who later became a contender in the welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
division.
For his second defense, Coggi returned to Italy, where he defeated perennial contender Harold Brazier
Harold Brazier
Harold Leon Brazier is an American former boxer.Fighting at light welterweight and welterweight, Brazier's career spanned three decades and 127 professional fights. He fought such opponents as Roger Mayweather, Pernell Whitaker, Meldrick Taylor, Vince Phillips, Micky Ward, Lloyd Honeyghan, Juan...
of the United States by a twelve round unanimous decision on 21 January 1989.
His third defense, on 29 April 1989, was also held in Italy. He defeated future world champion Akinobu Hiranaka
Akinobu Hiranaka
Akinobu Hiranaka is a former boxer in the Light welterweight division...
by a twelve round decision. However, this match was controversial for the decision which gave Italian-Argentine boxer Coggi excessive favor, while Coggi was knocked down by Hiranaka twice at 3rd round, and he has been inferior to Hiranaka at performance throughout 12 rounds. Among many boxing fans, there have been the strong voice that the victory should have been given to Hiranaka, since the match was owned by him.
After two non title wins, Coggi had four fights in France, beginning with a fourth round knockout victory over Jesse Williams
Jesse Williams
Jesse or Jessie Williams may refer to:*Jesse Williams , American television actor*Jesse Williams , American high jumper*Jesse Williams , Welsh international footballer*Jesse Lynch Williams, author and dramatist...
in another non-title bout.
On 24 March 1990, Coggi beat the former lightweight champion José Luis Ramírez
José Luis Ramírez
José Luis Ramírez is a retired Mexican boxer. He was a two-time World Lightweight Champion.-Career:A native of Huatabampo, Sonora and a resident of Culiacán, Ramírez made his professional debut on March 25, 1973 at the age of 15. He climbed slowly but steadily on boxing's rankings...
by a twelve round unanimous decision to retain the title. After beating Danilo Cabrera by knockout in round five, Coggi defended his title in Nice against the relatively unheralded Loreto Garza
Loreto Garza
Loreto Garza is a former American boxer.Garza started boxing amateur at 18 years old and did it for three years. He won the Golden Gloves all three years and was also on the US boxing team....
of Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, on 17 August. This time around, it was Coggi's turn to lose in a mild upset, as Garza became the champion by outpointing Coggi over twelve rounds.
On his next fight, held on 11 November at Buenos Aires, Coggi once again outpointed Tejada over ten rounds.
His next fight happened under extremely unlikely circumstances: he was in Sacramento to watch Garza defend his world title and, at the same time, challenge him to a rematch, when one of the boxers to be featured as part of the night's undercard suffered a car accident at the Arco Arena
ARCO Arena
Power Balance Pavilion is an indoor arena, located in the Natomas area of Sacramento, California. It is the home of the NBA's Sacramento Kings.-Background:...
parking lot and broke his wrist
Wrist
In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as 1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand;...
. Coggi took on the role of substitute fighter, and he beat Alberto Alcaraz by a knockout in round seven, 1 December.
Coggi went on to win his next eleven fights, six of them by knockout, before challenging Morris East
Morris East
Morris East is a retired Filipino boxing champion.As a teenager, East moved to Cebu City and was spotted by Lito Cortes who brought him to the Cebu Coliseum gym...
for the WBA title on 12 January 1993, in Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
. Coggi became a light welterweight champion for the second time that night when he knocked East out in eight rounds.
On 10 April 1993, he made his first defense of his second reign, knocking out perennial Puerto Rican
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
world title challenger Joe Rivera in seven rounds, in Mar del Plata. Next, he defended against Hiroyuki Yoshino
Hiroyuki Yoshino
is a Japanese voice actor. He is part of Sigma Seven.-Anime:*Allison & Lillia *Angel Tails *Aquarian Age *Azumanga Daioh *Baccano! *Black Jack...
on 23 June. In what marked his Asian debut, Coggi knocked Yoshino out in five rounds, in a fight held in Tokyo, Japan.
He defended his title three more times in 1993. On 13 August, he outpointed Jose Rafael Barbosa over twelve rounds in Buenos Aires, once again, retaining the world title. On 24 September, he knocked out Guillermo Cruz in ten rounds at Tucuman, and then, on 11 December, he closed 1993 by knocking out Eder Gonzalez, also in Tucuman, in the seventh round.
He and Gonzalez had a rematch on 18 March 1994. In what marked Coggi's American debut, he knocked Gonzalez out in three rounds at Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, once again, retaining the title.
Bouts with Frankie Randall
On 17 September 1994, he began a series of three controversial bouts with former Chávez conqueror Frankie RandallFrankie Randall
-External links:...
, who relieved Coggi of the title by beating him by a twelve round unanimous decision. Coggi suffered three knockdowns during the fight.
Coggi had two more wins, then he faced Randall for the second time. Coggi became champion for the third time on 13 January 1996, when he beat Randall by a fifth round technical decision
Technical decision
A technical decision is a term used in boxing when a fight has to be stopped because of a headbutt.In boxing fights, referees have to pay deep attention to the action going on between the fighters, especially when the two combatants are fighting close to each other...
. Randall was controlling the fight when he went down when his feet became tangled with Coggi in the third round. Because Coggi landed a glancing blow as Randall went down, Coggi was credited with a knockdown by the referee. In the fifth round, the two fighters clashed heads and Coggi walked to his corner and lay down. The referee tried to convince Coggi to fight but he was either unwilling or unable to do so. The ringside physician later said that Coggi was coherent and when Coggi was examined at a hospital after the fight, he was given a clean bill of health. The fight went to the scorecards and Coggi was ahead on all judges' cards by one point (due to the knockdown called against Randall in the third round). Due to the controversial nature of the match, the WBA ordered a third bout between the two rivals.
The third fight between Coggi and Randall came on 16 August, at Buenos Aires. Coggi suffered a knockdown in the second round, which would prove to be pivotal in the end, as Randall pulled a unanimous but close decision to recover the title.
Post-championship career
The rest of his career, Coggi fought second level opposition, posting five wins in a row, three by knockout, before facing another well known fighter. In Coggi's last fight, contended on 29 May 1999, he lost a twelve round unanimous decision to Michele PiccirilloMichele Piccirillo
Michele Piccirillo is a professional boxer in the welterweight division.- Professional career :...
in Italy.
Retirement
Coggi is now a boxing trainerBoxing training
Boxing training is the training method that boxers use in order to get more fit for their sport. This training method is often cited by medical doctors, boxing trainers, and writers as one of the most spartan forms of sports training.- Training :...
. His son, Martin Antonio Coggi, is a professional boxer.
Coggi was one of Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
's favorite boxers: in a rare opportunity for a boxer, President Alfonsín invited Coggi to his presidential home after Coggi became world champion for the first time.