Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is expected to be deported from the US to Mexico to serve a sentence for arms trafficking and organized crime.
This was confirmed by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday.
Chavez Jr. was recently detained in Los Angeles by US immigration authorities.
The US Department of Homeland Security said he was found to be in the US illegally.
Officials said he had submitted fraudulent information in 2024 on a green card application based on marriage to a US citizen.
Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference that Mexico has had a warrant for his arrest since 2023.
The arrest warrant stemmed from an investigation launched in 2019.
She noted that Mexico was unable to apprehend him earlier because he had been in the United States most of the time.
“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,” she said.
Homeland Security said Chavez Jr., 39, is suspected of ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
The cartel has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by Washington.
Michael Goldstein, his lawyer, said immigration agents arrested Chavez Jr. on Wednesday at his home in Studio City, Los Angeles.
“The current allegations are outrageous and appear to be designed as a headline to terrorize the community,” Goldstein said.
His family in Mexico also released a statement.
They said they “fully trust his innocence.”
His wife, Frida Munoz Chavez, was previously married to Edgar Guzman, the late son of jailed Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Edgar was assassinated in 2008.
Sheinbaum said she was unaware of any personal cartel links.
“I don’t know if Chavez Jr. had links to the Sinaloa Cartel,” she stated.
Just days earlier, Chavez Jr. had fought and lost to influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
The match was held in front of a sold-out crowd in Anaheim, California.
He lost by unanimous decision after 10 rounds.
Chavez Jr. became WBC middleweight champion in 2011 but lost the title in 2012.
His career has faced setbacks.
In 2009, he was suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.
In 2013, he was fined and suspended again after testing positive for marijuana.
(Reuters)
