A federal judge has dismissed a boxing trainer’s lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from an Arizona Boxing Commission member and more than a dozen other defendants.
Joe Diaz, who owns a boxing gym at Ninth Avenue and Jefferson in the Capitol Mall, sued commissioner Mary Rose Wilcox, Boxing Commission Assistant Director John Montano and Phoenix boxing promoter Peter McKinn — alleging that they had conspired to defraud him and a boxer he manages.
Wilcox was recently reappointed to the Boxing Commission for a term ending January 2009. She received Senate confirmation May 15. She also sits on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix dismissed the Diaz suit in a May 11 order.
Additional defendants named in the suit included Earl Wilcox, an aide to the governor and Mary Rose’s husband; Geoffrey Gonsher, state Racing Commission director and Montano’s supervisor; an owner and a vice president of Top Rank boxing promotions; a Maricopa County deputy attorney and a Los Angeles sports writer.
Diaz filed the suit in November as a pro se plaintiff, meaning he had no legal representation. He filed on behalf of himself and boxer Ramon “Yory Boy” Campas, who Diaz represents as trainer and manager.
According to the order, Diaz complained that the defendants “conspired to deprive them of their livelihoods.” Diaz alleged that his and Campas’ civil rights were violated because of threats and intimidation.
But Bolton said Diaz failed to answer most motions to dismiss filed by defendants, and — where he did respond — failed to state a legal claim for the suit.
Diaz said later he was unable to get a lawyer to take the case.
According to the order, Bolton refused to allow Diaz more time to respond to McKinn’s motion to dismiss. Diaz had told the court he expected to secure a lawyer soon.
In her order, however, Bolton wrote: “This case has been pending for six months. Plaintiffs have had ample time to secure representation, and the Court sees no reason to prolong this matter.”
Diaz has been engaged in a long-running legal and verbal dispute with McKinn, Top Rank and the Wilcoxes. The feud revolves around the fighter Campas, a Mexican national.
Fight began in 2004
Among other things, Diaz in previous interviews claimed Top Rank and McKinn — in a 2004 Phoenix fight promoted by Top Rank — paid Campas with a bad check.
Diaz also claimed Mary Rose Wilcox and the Boxing Commission trumped up a charge last year to suspend his trainer’s license and Campas’s license to fight in Arizona. Wilcox and Montano have said the commission suspended Diaz’s his license because he falsified a receipt for prize money. Campas had his license suspended for lying to the commission, they said.
Campas’ license has since been reinstated, while Diaz did not reapply for his.
Diaz said he intends to file another case against McKinn in Maricopa County Superior Court. He said he has a retained a lawyer, though the attorney — Tom Wilmer of Phoenix — declined to talk about possible litigation.
“I’m not going to stop until I get justice,” Diaz said.
McKinn said in a phone interview that Diaz has been carrying on a smear campaign against him and other the defendants. He said a similar suit Diaz filed in Superior Court has already been tossed out.
Told that Diaz plans to file another suit in Superior Court, McKinn replied: “He’ll be about 90 years old before he gets it.”