Julio Cesar Chavez Jr's legendary father breaks silence on son's ICE arrest over 'cartel links'

Boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez Sr has protested his son's innocence after he was arrested by ICE agents last week over his alleged connection to the Sinaloa Cartel.

Just days after his defeat against Jake Paul in Anaheim, California at the end of June, Chavez Jr was arrested 27 miles away in Los Angeles for overstaying his US visa and lying on a green-card application, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

In Mexico, the 39-year-old son and namesake of the country's greatest ever boxer is also wanted on allegations of drug and gun trafficking.

The DHS said last Thursday that they are 'processing him for expedited removal from the United States' due to a warrant in Mexico. As for the timing of the arrest, they claimed Chavez Jr's June 28 loss to Paul occurred one day after he became determined to stay in the country illegally. 

Mexico has since confirmed that it issued an arrest warrant for Chavez Jr in 2023. The country's officials and the DHS 'started the corresponding procedure for his extradition to Mexico,' it was revealed last week. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum has also expressed hope that he will be imprisoned upon return.

Amid plans to deport his son back to their homeland, Chavez Sr - one of the greatest fighters in boxing history - has claimed his son is innocent and that he is by no means a criminal.

'It's complicated, there's a lot of talk, but we're calm because we know my son's innocence,' the 62-year-old told the El Heraldo newspaper. 'My son will be anything you want, anything, but he is not a criminal and less everything he's being accused of.'

Alejandro Gertz Manero, Mexico's Attorney General, said on Sunday that the investigation against Chavez Jr started in 2019 after a complaint filed by US authorities against the Sinaloa Cartel for organized crime, human trafficking, arms trafficking, and drug trafficking.

'He knows a lot of people, we live in Culiacan , it would be impossible not to know all of the people that are doing illicit stuff, but that does not mean nothing,' Chavez Sr said. 'In my time I met everybody, and they did not come after me.'

Chavez senior was considered one of the best Mexican boxers of all time; a world champion at three divisions. In the 1980s and '90s he was a huge celebrity who mixed with drug dealers. He claimed in the past to have been friends with drug lords Amada Carrillo Fuentes and Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.

Gertz Manero said Chavez Junior's lawyers have requested at least five injunctions in Mexico, which have been rejected because the boxer is still in the United States.

'Lawyers in the United States are working to see if he stays there, and we're prepared if he comes here,' Chavez senior said. 'We'll fight under Mexican law if he´s transferred here.'

Chavez has spent considerable time in his native Mexico and the US in recent years, but according to the Department of Homeland Security, his tourist visa expired in February of 2024. The agency further claims Chavez filed several fraudulent statements while applying for permanent residence in April of 2024 after marrying Frida Muñoz, who is related to imprisoned Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.

Chavez's father has openly spoken about his own relationships with the Sinaloa Cartel and, in particular, 'El Chapo'.

In a podcast with journalist Javier Alarcon in 2021, he revealed: 'Not just El Chapo, I've met all the most wanted drug traffickers, like Amado Carrillo, El Azul [Esparragoza], and El Mayo [Zambada]. 

'I know them all, and they've all been my friends, but that's about it. Those people, if you know them, are good people'.