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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
The round ended about 20 seconds prematurely, thanks to Coggi's compatriot Jorge Fernando Castro grabbing the timekeeper's hammer and ringing the bell.
[2] Due to the controversy, the WBA ordered an immediate rematch, this time to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada on 18 March 1994, which marked Coggi's American debut.
On 17 September 1994, he began a series of three bouts with former Chávez-conqueror Frankie Randall, who relieved Coggi of the title by beating him by a twelve-round unanimous decision.
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.
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.