Former WBC middleweight champion and son of Mexican boxing legend Julio César Chávez Sr., Julio César Chávez Jr., was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los Angeles following his high-profile boxing match against Jake Paul.
The arrest, which took place on Wednesday in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, comes amid a broader investigation into Chávez Jr.’s alleged ties to organized crime and visa violations.
According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), officers detained Chávez for overstaying a tourist visa, which he entered the U.S. with in August 2023 and expired in February 2024. The agency states that Chávez submitted multiple fraudulent statements when he applied for permanent residency on April 2, 2024, based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, Frida Muñoz. She is the mother of a granddaughter of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
U.S. officials claimed Chávez to be an associate of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and said that there was an active arrest warrant for him in Mexico over his alleged involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunitions, and explosives.
Chávez is currently being processed for expedited removal from the United States. DHS has also labeled him an “egregious public safety threat”.
President Claudia Sheinbaum also reportedly said that Mexico first issued an arrest order for Chávez in 2023 after an investigation that began in 2019 but hadn’t acted on it because he had mostly been in the U.S. during that time. She also said she did not know if Chávez had links to the Sinaloa Cartel.
“The hope is that he will be deported and serve the sentence in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said during her daily news briefing. She also noted that Mexico had not previously executed the arrest warrant due to Chávez’s prolonged presence in the United States.
While U.S. officials claim Chávez has ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, President Sheinbaum stated that she was not aware of any confirmed connection.
Chávez’s legal counsel strongly denied the allegations. His attorney, Michael Goldstein, described the arrest as excessive and the charges as unsubstantiated.
“The current allegations are outrageous and appear to be designed as a headline to terrorize the community,” Goldstein said, adding that more than two dozen agents detained Chávez outside his home. Chávez’s family in Mexico said in a statement that they “fully trust his innocence.”
Reuters reports that Frida Muñoz Chávez, Chávez’s wife, was previously married to one of the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the former Sinaloa Cartel leader currently serving a life sentence in the United States.
The arrest occurred just four days after Chávez’s return to the spotlight in a widely publicized fight against Jake Paul. The 39-year-old boxer became the latest fighter to face Paul, who has made a career facing boxers and mixed martial artists well above his age in some of the sport’s most-watched cards.
Chávez Jr., a native of Sinaloa, Mexico, holds a professional record of 54 wins, 7 losses, and 1 draw. He held the WBC middleweight title from 2011 to 2012 and faced notable opponents including Canelo Álvarez in 2017.
As immigration authorities proceed with Chávez’s deportation, the former champion now faces serious legal consequences in both the United States and Mexico, threatening not only his career but also the reputation tied to one of boxing’s most recognized family names.
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