Famous Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr., U.S. federal officials said Thursday.
The arrest came just days after a game between former middleweight champions against Jake Paul in Anaheim, California.
According to Michael Goldstein, Chávez, 39, was taken over by many federal agents while riding a scooter in front of his studio city home.
“The current allegations are outrageous and just another title to intimidate the community,” Goldstein said.
Many in Southern California are on the verge of a marginalized as immigration arrests increase, prompting protests and the federal government's deployment of the National Guard and U.S. Marines to downtown Los Angeles.
Goldstein didn't know where Chávez was detained as of Thursday morning, but said they would be in court on Monday with last year's gun possession charges and provide updates on his progress in the substance abuse program.
The Department of Homeland Security said immigration and customs law enforcement officers detained Chávez because he passed the deadline in February 2024 after entering the country in August 2023 and the visa expired in February 2024.
The agency said the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services tagged ICE on Chavez last year, saying he was “a serious public safety threat” but he was allowed to return to the country on January 4.
Officials said he had an active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking in guns, ammunition and explosives and was considered a branch of the Sinaloa cartel. The Associated Press contacted the Mexico Attorney General's Office for the allegations, but the office has not responded yet.
U.S. President Donald Trump directed federal immigration officials on Sunday to prioritize the deportation of undocumented immigrants in Democratic cities. This is after a massive protest over the weekend, opposing the Trump administration’s immigration policy in major cities across the country.
The Trump administration said Chávez applied for a green card on April 2, 2024, based on his marriage to Frida Muñoz, a U.S. citizen, who is a former partner of the now-dead son of Édgar Guzmán López, the now-incarnated son of Sinaloa Cartel Kingpin Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman.
Chavez filed multiple fraudulent statements on the application, which led to his arrest, the agency said.
Chávez has had only one fight with Paul before Saturday’s match against Paul, falling to numerous lows in the shadow of his father, one of the most popular athletes in Mexican history and a member of the International Boxing Arena Hall of Fame who have won the championship in several weight classes.
The son's drug test failed, stopped, and was widely criticized for his intermittent dedication to the sport.
He still rose to heights, winning the WBC middleweight title in 2011 and defending three times. Chávez shared the ring with generations of great men Caneloálvarez and Sergio Martinez and lost to both.
After a long career battling drug addiction, Chavez went to a rehabilitation clinic in Sinaloa and claimed to be clean in the fight with Paul. While preparing for the game, he looked at his best in years.
Chavez said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times before fighting Paul that he and his coach were scared of being arrested by immigrants.
“I don't understand this situation – why so much violence? There are a lot of good people, you give the community an example of violence,” Chavez said. “I don't want to be deported after everything happened.”
