Boxer Chavez Jr expected to be deported to Mexico to serve sentence, Sheinbaum says
FILE PHOTO: Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. enters the ring before his fight against Jake Paul at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, U.S. June 28, 2025. Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images via REUTERS. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES/File Photo
MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday she expects boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr to be deported to Mexico to serve a sentence for arms trafficking and organized crime, after being detained in Los Angeles by U.S. immigration authorities.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Chavez was determined to be in the country illegally last week after he made fraudulent statements on a 2024 application for permanent residence based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen.
Sheinbaum, in her regular morning press conference, said Mexico has had a warrant for his arrest since 2023, stemming from an investigation initiated in 2019.
She added that Mexico had failed to bring him into custody over that period as Chavez Jr had spent most of his time in the United States.
"So that there is a deportation and that he can serve the sentence, that's the process the attorney general's office is working on," Sheinbaum told reporters.
On Thursday, Homeland Security said the 39-year-old boxer, son of Mexican world champion fighter Julio Cesar Chavez, is suspected of having ties to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, which Washington has designated a foreign terrorist organization..
Michael Goldstein, a lawyer for Chavez, said more than two dozen immigration agents arrested the boxer at his home in the Studio City area of Los Angeles on Wednesday.
"The current allegations are outrageous and appear to be designed as a headline to terrorize the community," Goldstein said. His family in Mexico said in a statement that they "fully trust his innocence."
His wife, Frida Munoz Chavez, was previously married to the son of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison. The son, Edgar, was assassinated in 2008.
Sheinbaum said she did not know if Chavez Jr had links to the Sinaloa Cartel.
Chavez lost to influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul, 28, last weekend before a sold-out crowd in Anaheim, California, in a unanimous decision after 10 rounds.
He won the WBC middleweight championship in 2011, but lost the title the following year.
His career has been overshadowed by controversies including a suspension after testing positive for a banned substance in 2009 and a fine and suspension after testing positive for marijuana in 2013. REUTERS
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