How do you top the story of a 17-year-old Teamster’s son who won the United States Boxing Senior Nationals Featherweight Championship in 2010?

You turn the calendar to 2011 and see the 18-year-old emerge from the July world championships as the fifth-best 119-pounder in the world with a spot guaranteed in the 2012 London Olympics.

Joseph Diaz Jr. is the son of Joseph Diaz Sr., a member of Local 986 in South El Monte, Calif. who works at Mayflower in Whittier.

The senior Diaz has co-trained his son since the age of 10 at the Teamster Youth Boxing Club in South El Monte, a program heavily supported for a dozen years by Teamsters Joint Council 42 and its local unions.

Olympic boxing qualifying has drastically changed for the upcoming London Games, Youth Boxing Club director and Diaz co-trainer Ben Lira explained.

It wasn’t enough when young Diaz swept the United States Olympic trials in Mobile, Ala. at the end of August, winning all four of his fights on the way to the gold medal. That placed him on the U.S. squad. However, new Olympic qualifying rules required Diaz to be among the top 10 boxers in the world to get his ticket punched to London.

In Azerbaijan in late September, he boxed his way to three victories out of four fights, finishing fifth, and locked himself in for next year’s games. There were 57 other boxers from around the globe in his weight division.

According to Lira, Diaz was outpointed in his last fight by a veteran Cuban who went on to win the gold medal. At 18, Diaz was the youngest fighter in the entire tournament.

Sadly, only three of 10 U.S. Olympic hopefuls in Azerbaijan made the cut for the Olympics.

Local 986 Secretary-Treasurer Chris Griswold said that last year, Diaz, fresh out of high school, swept five fights at the U.S. championships which placed him in boxing’s accelerated program of training the best in and outside the country. Diaz subsequently trained and boxed in England, Italy and New York City, courtesy of U.S. Boxing and with the support of the Teamsters.

Griswold said that all the Teamster Youth Club boxers compete in gear featuring the Teamster logo.

“We’re not only proud of Joseph, but the hundreds of kids the Teamsters have helped support at the Teamster Youth Club in partnership with the city of South El Monte. Trainer Lira demands good citizenship and good grades in addition to the boxing training,” said Randy Cammack, International Vice President and Joint Council 42 President.

Cammack said the Teamsters continually stage fundraisers for the club to prosper, offering another avenue of progress for area youth.

Diaz Sr. and Lira will accompany Diaz Jr. to London as his trainers.