U.S. immigration agents arrested 39-year-old Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and planned to deport him to Mexico, where he has an “active arrest warrant … because he is involved in organized crime.”
Less than a week after his arrest, the former middleweight world champion was defeated by influential boxer Jake Paul in a match in California.
U.S. officials say he is affiliated with the infamous Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel. His lawyer denied the claim.
“Under President Trump, no one is above the law – including world-renowned athletes,” a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement following his arrest.
Chavez Jr was arrested Thursday in the Los Angeles studio city of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
His battle with Paul was on Saturday in nearby Anaheim. Chavez Jr is the son of former boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez Sr, who is considered the best boxer in Mexican history.
The Department of Homeland Security statement said it was dealing with “famous Mexican boxers and criminally illegal foreigners” to “speed up the demolition.”
“Chavez is a Mexican citizen who has an active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking of firearms, ammunition and explosives,” the statement said.
It added that officials believe he may have ties to the Sinaloa cartel, who President Donald Trump designated as a terrorist group on the first day of January.
The statement said describing the so-called connection, which he applied for permanent residency in the United States last year because his marriage to a U.S. citizen was “connected to the Sinaloa cartel, which was linked through a current relationship with Joaquin’El Chapo’Guzman, the now-infamous cartel leader.
According to U.S. officials, Chavez Jr. was arrested and jailed for several crimes in the United States, many of which involved weapons.
Officials said he was arrested in January 2024 and later convicted of illegal possession of an assault weapon.
In 2023, a local judge in the United States issued an arrest warrant against him for suspected trafficking of weapons for criminal organizations. In 2012, he was arrested for driving without permission that affects drugs or alcohol.
He also allegedly made several fraudulent statements to the U.S. immigration authorities in an attempt to obtain permanent residence, which expired in February last year.
A lawyer for Chavez Jr said his arrest was “just another title to intimidate the Latin community.”
Attorney Michael Goldstein was asked about allegations of cartel contact. Tell NBC: “This is the first of these outrageous allegations we’ve heard.”
Chavez Jr. held a public exercise in Los Angeles two weeks before the round against Paul He talks to the Los Angeles Times There is a massive rise in immigration raids that have swept the city in the past month.
He said his own coach was afraid to go to work due to fear of being deported.
“I’m even afraid to tell the truth. It’s ugly,” he said, accusing our immigration agents of “giving a violent role model to the community.”
“I’m from Sinaloa and things are really ugly there, coming here, to a country like this beautiful, there’s everything… to see Trump attacking immigrant Latinos for no reason. Not being with God makes you feel like you know everything. Trump made a bad decision.”
He added: “It happened and I don’t want to be deported.”
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