Juan Martin Coggi (born 19 December 1961) is a former boxer from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. A native of

Santa Fe Province The Province of Santa Fe ( es, Provincia de Santa Fe, ) is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco (divided by the 28th parallel south), Corrientes, Entre R� ...

(he lived as a child until a few years

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 i ...

, Buenos Aires Province), which was also the birthplace of

Carlos Monzón Carlos Roque Monzón (7 August 1942 – 8 January 1995), nicknamed Escopeta (''Shotgun'' in Spanish), was an Argentine professional boxer who held the undisputed world middleweight championship for 7 years. He successfully defended his title 14 ...

, 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.

Early boxing career

After a stellar amateur career, Coggi became a professional boxer on 2 April 1982, knocking out 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 Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. 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.

Championship career

Despite having a record that included no one of apparent relevance, the WBA 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 (born 28 January 1959) is an Italian former professional boxer, who won the gold medal in the light welterweight division at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as an amateur and the WBA light welterweight title as a professional. Early lif ...

, 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 (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

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 is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

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 Akinobu Hiranaka (平仲明信, born Nobuaki Hiranaka, on November 14, 1963) is a former world champion boxer in the Light welterweight ( Super lightweight or former Junior welterweight) division. He won the WBA Junior Welterweight championsh ...

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 José Luis Ramírez (born December 3, 1958) is a Mexican former professional boxer who 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 ...

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 Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

against the relatively unheralded

Loreto Garza Loreto Garza (born May 23, 1962 in Sacramento, California) is an American former professional boxer and world champion at light welterweight. Career Amateur Garza started boxing amateur at 18 years old and did it for three years. He won the ...

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, 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 Morris East (born August 8, 1973, in Olongapo, Philippines) is a retired Filipino professional boxer and boxing trainer.http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content9094.html East is the former GAB Light Middleweight, OPBF and WBA World Light Welte ...

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 is a Japanese voice actor and singer affiliated with Sigma Seven. On leading roles, he played Yoshimori Sumimura in ''Kekkaishi'', Yuji Kagura in ''Tona-Gura!'', Takumi Nishijō in ''Chaos;Head'', Yusuke "Bossun" Fujisaki in '' Sket Dance'', ...

on 23 June. In what marked his Asian debut, Coggi knocked Yoshino out in five rounds, in a fight held in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. 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 Tucumán, and then, on 11 December, he closed 1993 by knocking out Eder Gonzalez, also in Tucumán, 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 (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

, once again, retaining the title.

Bouts with Frankie Randall

On 17 September 1994, he began a series of three bouts with former Chávez-conqueror

Frankie Randall Frankie Billy Randall (September 25, 1961 – December 23, 2020) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1983 to 2005. He was a three-time light welterweight world champion, having held the WBA and WBC titles between 1994 and 19 ...

, 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 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 fightin ...

. 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 Piccirillo Michele Piccirillo (born 29 January 1970 in Modugno, Italy) is a professional boxer in the welterweight () division. Amateur career Michele Piccirillo was an Italian boxer who earned the nickname “Il Gentleman del Ring” for his elegant ...

in Italy.

Retirement

Coggi is now a boxing trainer. His son, Martin Antonio Coggi, is a professional boxer. Coggi was one of

Raúl Alfonsín Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...

'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.

Professional boxing record

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="8", 75 Wins (44 Knockouts), 5 Defeats, 2 Draw,Juan Martin Coggi's Professional Boxing Record
. BoxRec.com. Retrieved on 2012-03-22. , - style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3;" , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Res. , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Record , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Opponent , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Type , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Rd., Time , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Date , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Location , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Notes , - align=center , Loss , 75-5-2 , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 75-4-2 , align=left, Dezi Ford , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 74-4-2 , align=left, Silvio Rojas , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 73-4-2 , align=left, Santiago Ahumada , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 72-4-2 , align=left, Agustin Gurrola , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 71-4-2 , align=left, Alberto Zuluaga , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 70-4-2 , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 70-3-2 , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 69-3-2 , align=left, Hiroyuki Sakamoto , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 68-3-2 , align=left, Ildemar Jose Paisan , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 67-3-2 , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 67-2-2 , align=left, Mario Morales , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 66-2-2 , align=left, Eder Gonzalez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 65-2-2 , align=left, Eder Gonzalez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 63-2-2 , align=left, Guillermo Cruz , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 62-2-2 , align=left, Jose Rafael Barboza , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 61-2-2 , align=left, Hiroyuki Yoshino , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 60-2-2 , align=left, José Antonio Rivera , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 59-2-2 , align=left, Domingo Martínez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 58-2-2 , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 57-2-2 , align=left, Juan Alberto Contreras , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 56-2-2 , align=left, Eduardo Jacques , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 55-2-2 , align=left, Francisco Frasqueri , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 54-2-2 , align=left, Julián Rodriguez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 53-2-2 , align=left, Joseph Alexander , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 52-2-2 , align=left, Juan Alberto Contreras , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 51-2-2 , align=left, Fernando Segura , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 50-2-2 , align=left, Francisco Cuesta , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 49-2-2 , align=left, Ricardo Espinosa , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 48-2-2 , align=left, Dwayne Swift , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 47-2-2 , align=left, Nestor Gil , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 46-2-2 , align=left, Alberto Alcaraz , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 45-2-2 , align=left, Jorge Tejada , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 44-2-2 , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 44-1-2 , align=left, Danilo Cabrera , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 43-1-2 , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 42-1-2 , align=left, Jesse Williams , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 41-1-2 , align=left, Antonio Ojeda , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 40-1-2 , align=left, Omar Alegre , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 39-1-2 , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 38-1-2 , align=left, Raul Bianco , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 37-1-2 , align=left, Harold Brazier , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 36-1-2 , align=left, Jorge Tejada , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 35-1-2 , align=left, Jorge Tejada , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 34-1-2 , align=left, Osvaldo Maldonado , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 33-1-2 , align=left, Lee Sang-Ho , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 32-1-2 , align=left, Mario Araya , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 31-1-2 , align=left,

, , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 30-1-2 , align=left, José Magarino , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 29-1-2 , align=left, Hugo Hernandez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , style="background:#abcdef;", Draw , 28-1-2 , align=left, Ramon Collado , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 28-1-1 , align=left, Jose Luis Saldivia , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 27-1-1 , align=left, Edecio Molina Ortiz , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 26-1-1 , align=left, Sergio Brites , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 25-1-1 , align=left, Ruben Verdun , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 24-1-1 , align=left, Oscar Sosa , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , style="background:#abcdef;", Draw , 23-1-1 , align=left, Ramon Collado , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 23-1-0 , align=left, Ramon Jara , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 22-1-0 , align=left, Adolfo Omar Arce Rossi , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 22-0-0 , align=left, Miguel Angel Pereyra , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 21-0-0 , align=left, Marcelo Villagra , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 20-0-0 , align=left, Ramon Collado , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 19-0-0 , align=left, Pedro Gutierrez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 18-0-0 , align=left, Ricardo Espinosa , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 17-0-0 , align=left, Ricardo Espinosa , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 16-0-0 , align=left, Marcelo Villagra , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 15-0-0 , align=left, Romulo Ibarra , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 14-0-0 , align=left, Anibal Ozuna , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 13-0-0 , align=left, Apolinario Romero , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 12-0-0 , align=left, Anibal Ozuna , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 11-0-0 , align=left, Sergio Brites , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 10-0-0 , align=left, Apolinario Romero , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 9-0-0 , align=left, Carlos Fallone , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 8-0-0 , align=left, Osvaldo Colros , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 7-0-0 , align=left, Norberto Ramirez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 6-0-0 , align=left, Carlos Fallone , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 5-0-0 , align=left, Rogelio Florentin , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 4-0-0 , align=left, Felipe Baez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 3-0-0 , align=left, Raul Gramasco , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 2-0-0 , align=left, Viterman Sanchez , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 1-0-0 , align=left, Horacio Valdez , , , , align=left, , align=left,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coggi, Juan Martin 1961 births Living people Light-welterweight boxers Sportspeople from Santa Fe, Argentina World Boxing Association champions Argentine male boxers