Joe Diaz (born c. 1938) is a Phoenix boxing trainer. Diaz is a Mexican-American. It is rumored that during the 1950s, Diaz had a short professional boxing career in Texas but there is no record of any professional boxing match that this particular Joe Diaz participated in. After "retiring" from boxing, he moved to Arizona in the mid 1990's. In the late 1990s, he opened Joe Diaz Top Level Boxing gym in Phoenix that he was given ownership to from Tom Gaffney, a person who would play a big part in Mr. Diaz's life in later years. The name "Top Level Gym" was an old gym that had been operated by Pavo Ketonen since 1970 and had proven to be a popular training and hang-out center for famous boxers, such as Salvador Sanchez who trained there in 1980 before defeating Danny Lopez for the world's Featherweight title. Joe Diaz had a feud with Dodge Theater boxing director the afore mentioned Tom Gaffney; this feud made headlines in Phoenix. Diaz sent Mary Rose Wilcox, an important political figure in Arizona, a letter explaining his concerns about Gaffney operating as director of boxing at the theater. As it turns out, there was no law or license that governed a "boxing director" or "director of boxing" as long as Mr. Gaffney was not acting as a "Boxing Promoter" he was in no conflict with the laws governing Arizona boxing. Gaffney had been involved in boxing in other states before, and at that time was a licensed "Boxing Promoter" in Colorado. Diaz said that Gaffney never paid two of Diaz's fighters their full purses after fights at the Dodge theater. This accusation was never proven and Mr. Gaffney had physical proof of payment which was backed up by the Arizona Boxing Commission at the time. Diaz has trained many world champions at his gym,Yori Boy Campas, Jorge Castro, Mia St. John, Vassiliy Jirov and a number of others. Other notables who have trained there include Hector Camacho Jr. and Jesus Gonzales. On January 14, he and some of his boxers staged a rally in front of the Arizona State athletic commission. Diaz told "The Arizona Republic" that he plans to do so every other Friday, until their fighters become famous and self-managed boxers.
