Butted Coggi Takes Randall’s WBA Title

Argentina’s Juan Coggi was taken to a Miami hospital Saturday night after suffering a head injury on an accidental head butt that gave him the World Boxing Assn. junior-welterweight title over champion Frankie Randall.

As he was being removed from the Miami Jai-Alai fronton arena, Coggi had reclaimed the title he lost to Randall in September 1994.

All three judges had Coggi ahead on the cards when the fight was stopped at 1:15 of the fifth round.

According to WBA rules, a technical decision is awarded to the fighter who is ahead on points but unable to continue because of an accidental butt.

For Randall, it is the second title loss under such circumstances. In 1994, Julio Cesar Chavez was awarded a technical decision to reclaim his World Boxing Council super-lightweight title after Chavez suffered a deep cut to an eye late in the fight.

“This is a classic case of a guy falling down,” said Randall, who is 52-4-1. “He was going to get knocked out. I’m tired of being robbed.”

Coggi, who has now won the title three times, improves to 70-3-2. According to a ringside physician who attended Coggi, the fighter’s pupils were responding to light.

On the undercard, Panama’s Carlos Murillo scored a unanimous decision over defending champion Hi-Yong Choi of South Korea for the WBA junior flyweight belt, and Nate Miller successfully defended his WBA cruiserweight title by stopping Reynaldo Gimenez of Argentina after four rounds.

Golf

David Toms and second-round leader Joel Edwards were deadlocked until the final hole of the Nortel Open’s third round in Tucson. Then their paths headed in different directions.

Toms completed a three-under-par 69 with a par on the 18th. One twosome later, Edwards four-putted the same green and relinquished his share of the lead.

Toms’ score at the 7,148-yard Tucson National course left him at 11-under 204, one shot ahead of 14-year veteran Ronnie Black, whose 66 boosted him into position to win his third PGA tournament.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson, who also won in Tucson in 1991 as an amateur, and Edwards were at 206.

Liselotte Neumann of Sweden continued her mastery of the LPGA season-opening Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Fla., posting a workmanlike even-par 72 to head into the final round with an eight-shot lead.

After beginning the day with an LPGA-record nine-stroke lead after 36 holes, Neumann had a two-birdie, two-bogey round for a 54-hole total of 11-under 205.

Missie McGeorge shot a two-under-par 70 and was at three-under 213. Laura Davies was one under after a 71.

Winter Sports

Austria’s Guenther Mader won his 12th career World Cup event by shattering the two-mile Hahnenkamm course record in the downhill at Kitzbuehel, Austria. He raced down the icy course in 1 minute, 54.29 seconds, nearly two seconds better than the previous best of 1:56.04 by Franz Heinzer of Switzerland in 1992. It was his first downhill victory, enabling him to join Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg and Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland as the only skiers to win all five disciplines--slalom, giant slalom, super-G, combined and downhill--at Kitzbuehel.

Katja Seizinger was an easy winner in a World Cup super-giant slalom before hometown fans in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Martina Ertl retained her World Cup lead with a second-place finish.

Vladimir Smirnov of Kazakhstan won the 15-kilometer cross-country race in 40 minutes, 11.3 seconds for his second World Cup victory at Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. . . . Austrian Ludwig Gredler won his second 10-kilometer sprint of the World Cup biathlon season in Anterselva, Italy. Vladimir Dratshev of Russia took the overall lead. . . . Jani Soininen of Finland sailed 117 1/2 and 119 meters for 228.7 points and his first World Cup ski jumping victory at Engelberg, Switzerland. . . . Japan’s Koji Takazawa leads the field after the first day of ski jumping at the Nordic Combined World Cup event at Strbske Pleso, Slovakia.

Tennis

Monica Seles warmed up for the Australian Open by rallying to defeat Lindsay Davenport, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, to win the $670,000 Peters International Championship at Sydney.

Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco upset top-seeded Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 6-3, to reach the final of the Indonesian Open in Jakarta. Fifth-seeded Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands defeated Michael Joyce, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

Second-seeded MaliVai Washington was upset by Guy Forget of France, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the rain-plagued BellSouth Open in Auckland, New Zealand.

Marc Rosset of Switzerland, bothered by a hand injury, withdrew from the Australian Open. Rosset, seeded 13th, was injured when he punched an advertising sign during the Hopman Cup final last weekend in Perth.

Miscellany

South Africa opened its first African Cup tournament with a 3-0 victory over Cameroon, delighting a crowd of 80,000 including President Nelson Mandela. The competition, held in southern Africa for the first time, began without defending champion Nigeria, which is boycotting in a political dispute with South Africa.

Cincinnati goaltender Danny Lorenz didn’t give up a goal in his 30-minute appearance as the Eastern Conference defeated the West, 7-3, in the International Hockey League All-Star Game at Houston.

The UCLA Bruin Diving Invitational will be held next Saturday and Sunday at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. Scheduled to compete are 15 to 20 of the NCAA’s top men’s and women’s teams.

Names in the News

John Mackovic agreed to a new five-year contract that will keep him coaching football at Texas through the year 2000. . . . Bret Saberhagen of the Colorado Rockies decided against having an operation on his ailing right shoulder and will try rehabilitation for two more months. . . . The Florida Marlins signed pitcher Livan Hernandez, 20, who defected from the Cuban national team in September, to a four-year contract. . . . Dean McAdams, 78, who quarterbacked Washington’s football team to 7-2 record and a No. 10 ranking in 1940, died at a Seattle nursing home.