RIBERA, Sicily -- Challenger Juan Martin Coggi of Argentina knocked out champion Patrizio Oliva in the third round Saturday night to capture the World Boxing Association light-welterweight title.
Coggi, 25, floored the previously unbeaten Italian twice in the third round of the scheduled 15-round bout.
Coggi improved to 32-1-2 while Oliva fell to 48-1.
The challenger decked the previously undefeated Oliva for the first time with a left-right combination. Coggi, fighting his first pro bout outside of his native country, stepped up the attack as the groggy Oliva pushed on. The Argentine hammered Oliva relentlessly and sent Oliva crashing to the canvas.
'Unfortunately, things like this happen,' Oliva said. 'The sport is like this. I've won plenty of times, but now it's my turn to be beaten. You have to be a sportsman about it.'
It was Oliva's third defense of the title he took from Argentina's Ubaldo Sacco on March 15, 1986, in Monte Carlo. Oliva last fought in January, outpointing Mexican Rodolfo Gonzalez.
Oliva entered the ring weighing 139.7 pounds while Coggi tipped the scales slighty lighter at 138.6.
Until Saturday, Coggi's biggest victory had been a 1986 third-round knockout of Hugo Hernandez, the seventh-ranked challenger in the WBA ranks. Coggi's only defeat occurred in March, 1985, when he was stopped in Buenos Aires by Adolfo Rossi in 10 rounds.
