Son of a legendary former world champion boxer, Julio Cesar Chavez is deported by the US, facing charges of arms trafficking and organised crime in Mexico.
Former champion boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr has been detained in Mexico after being deported by the United States to face drug trafficking-related charges, Mexican authorities said.
Chavez, the son of legendary boxer Julio Cesar Chavez, was handed over at midday on Monday and transferred to a prison in Mexico’s northwest Sonora state, according to information published Tuesday on the country’s National Detention Registry.
“He was deported,” President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters, adding that there was an arrest warrant for him in Mexico.
She previously said there was a warrant for his arrest for charges of arms trafficking and organised crime, and that prosecutors were working on the case.
The Mexican attorney general’s office declined to comment.
Chavez Jr, the son of a legendary former world champion boxer, Julio Cesar Chavez, was detained by US immigration authorities shortly after losing in a sold-out match to American influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
Mexican prosecutors allege he acted as a henchman for the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, which Washington designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” earlier this year.
Chavez Jr’s lawyer and family have rejected the accusations.
Mexico’s national registry showed that the boxer was arrested at a checkpoint in the Mexican border city of Nogales at 11:53am (18:53 GMT) and transferred to a federal institution in Sonora’s capital of Hermosillo. Chavez Jr was wearing a black hoodie and red sneakers, it said.
Chavez Jr won the World Boxing Council 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 cannabis in 2013.