Los Angeles (AP) – The famous Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. has been arrested for the illegal arrival of the United States and will be deported to Mexico, where he is confronted with organized charges for crime, said American federal officials on Thursday.
The arrest comes only a few days after the former middleweight champion lost a match against Jake Paul in Anaheim, California.
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The 39-year-old boxer was picked up by a large number of federal agents while he was driving a scooter in front of his house in Studio City, according to Chávez's lawyer Michael Goldstein.
“The current allegations are outrageous and just a new head to terrorize the community,” said Goldstein.
Many people in South California are sharp because immigration arrests have been fueled, so that protests and the federal deployment of National Guard troops and American Marines have been supplied to the center of Los Angeles.
Goldstein did not know where Chávez was held from Thursday morning, but said that they would be in court on Monday with regard to the charges of last year's possessions and would give an update on his progress in a resource abuse program.
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The Department of Homeland Security said that immigration and customs enforcement officials were holding Chávez for the too much of a tourist visa that went in February 2024 after he entered the country in August 2023.
American citizenship and immigration services marked ice about Chávez last year and said that he is “a gross threat of public safety,” and yet he was allowed back in the country on January 4, the agency said.
Officials said he has an active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trade in firearms, ammunition and explosives and is considered a branch of the Sinaloa cartel. The Associated Press contacted the office of the Attorney General of Mexico about the charges, but the office has not yet responded.
The Trump government said that Chávez applied for a green card on 2 April 2024, based on his marriage to an American burger, Frida Muñoz, the former partner of Édgar Guzmán López, the son of Collected Sinaloa Cartel Kingpin Joaquin “Guzman.
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The agency said that Chávez had submitted several fraudulent statements about his application, which led to his arrest.
Since 2021, Chávez had only fought once before his fight with Paul on Saturday, after he had fallen to countless lows during a long boxing career in the shadow of his father, one of the most beloved athletes in Mexican history, a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame who Won in various weight classes.
The son has failed drug tests, served suspensions and missed weight while he is criticized on a large scale because of his intermittent dedication to the sport.
He was still rising to his heights, won the WBC Middleweight title in 2011 and defended it three times. Chávez shared the ring with generation of quantities Canelo Álvarez and Sergio Martinez and lost to both.
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After fighting against drug addiction for long pieces of his career, Chávez went to a rehabilitation clinic in Sinaloa and claimed to be clean for the Paul fight. He looked in his best form in years as he prepared for the game.
Chávez said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times prior to his fight with Paul that he and his trainers were afraid of immigration arrests.
“I don't understand the situation – why so much violence? There are many good people, and you give the community an example of violence,” said Chávez. “After everything that happened, I would not want to be deported.”
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Associated Press journalist Carlos Rodriguez in Mexico City has contributed to this story.
