Joe Diaz
“UNCLE JOE” HAD GOOD NEWS & SOME BAD
Phoenix, AZ– Anytime Joe Diaz calls me, I feel it is a blessing seeing the veteran trainer beat then 10 count when a massive heart attack took him ever so close to the edge of the cliff of death in early May. To say it has been a rough year for Diaz is quite an understatement, for as he was recovering in one local hospital, his 92-year old mother Carmen Diaz, who came out with her daughter (Joe’s sister) Rosie from New Jersey while Joe was still in a coma, died in another Phoenix hospital in June. One of the last things she did before becoming gravely ill and passing was to sing “Happy Birthday” to her son.
DIAZ IN BETTER SHAPE THAN “YORY BOY” CAMPAS
Top Rank’s Bob Arum
As he is rehabilitating, Joe has dropped 40 lbs. and is contemplating a comeback at 71, not as a fighter, Joe wants to go back to plumbing, something he was forced (“I had to eat”) to return to after Top Rank Promotions and their Arizona promoter Peter McKinn, his associates, John Montano, the Arizona Boxing Commission head and others, including Arizona government officials Mary Rose and Earl Wilcox, made his life and that of ex-champion Ramon “Yory Boy” Campas a living hell. They took Campas’ boxing license away for a year and Diaz’s for five years based on a document that Mary Rose possessed and John Montano knew was forged.
COMMISSION NEVER USED FORGED RECEIPT AT THEIR MEETINGS
In In a number of hearings over the years, Diaz would challenge Wilcox and Montano on his suspension. Yet, they never produced the now admitted to be forged “cash receipt” by Peter McKinn aide Gabe Esqueda, lied and said he gave thousands of dollars to Diaz in cash. The only reason Diaz found out about the bogus receipt was that Mary Rose Wilcox, a Maricopa County Supervisor and then the Boxing Commission Chairman faxed it to the City Attorney Andrew Thomas to prevent him from prosecuting McKinn for a bad check to Campas. Diaz found this in a stack of papers released from Thomas under the Arizona Freedom of Information Act.
EVIDENCE TO SHUT DOWN CASE EVEN AFTER POLICE CONFIRM FAKERY!
Wilcox, who is asking for some type of “immunity” regarding her work on the boxing commission, neither her nor John Montano ever presented it to shut Diaz up at every meeting and in the media. Both an independent and Phoenix Police “hand writing expert” deemed the Joe Diaz signature a forgery. Esqueda also taped McKinn admitting to everything. They wanted to ruin Diaz, thus they took Joe’s license to train boxers in Arizona where he operates a boxing gym. His gym became a ghost town because he couldn’t train anybody fighting in his home state.
SPEAKING OF CAMPAS AND IT’S NOT GOOD
John Montano took Campas’ license to fight away at a weigh in. That’s right at the weigh in for being with Diaz. “Yory,” now 40 and several years past his peak lost to a virtual novice this past weekend in Mexico. With a $1 million contract (that has either eraser or white out marks on it) to face Oscar De La Hoya, Campas ended up with about $60,000. Oh, and in case you didn’t know it, Top Rank deducted $10,000 from Yory’s purse for a post fight Urine test. This is substantiated on a Top Rank pay stub.
CASE HEADED FOR TRIAL CIRCA FEBRUARY 2012
The multi-million dollar lawsuit filed against the aforementioned and the state of Arizona as well, is supposedly a go for February. I’ve cried a few times in my life, but when word was circulating that Joe was circling the drain of death, I cried because I know what these scoundrels did to him, Campas and others. But as I stated, Joe Diaz has recovered and while he may have lost a lot of weight, he hasn’t lost any of the “fight” in him. If there was ever a “slam dunk” case supported by documents produced by the defendants themselves, this in their brazen and unscrupulous behavior is the one! Edward Moriarity, who worked the famed Karen Silkwood lawsuit is chief counsel for Diaz and Campas.
NOW THE SORT OF BAD NEWS…
For years, Diaz ran the Top Level Boxing Gym for amateurs and professionals before having his license pulled. A new Commission gave him back his license just last year. This is where Diaz collapsed in May. Well, the gym is history seeing it has been converted into a church. In closing, they say every dog, including Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum, who runs Top Rank, has his day. Unless Top Rank is looking to come up with a multi-million dollar settlement offer, Arum’s dirty laundry will be laid out in greater detail than I have over the years. When a jury sees what these people did, there will be no mercy, believe it!
Pedro Fernandez