Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. is standing by his son in the wake of Chavez Jr.’s recent arrest by ICE for Sinaloa Cartel connections.
Chavez Jr. fought Jake Paul to an uninspired decision loss on Saturday, June 28th. On July 3rd, the boxer was arrested by ICE and is set to be deported from the U.S. over “involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives.”
Chavez Jr. has well known ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and was married to the widow of one of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman’s sons. According to reports coming out of Mexico, Chavez Jr. was called in to beat on cartel enemies who were strung up like punching bags from the ceiling.
The boxer’s problems won’t be over once he’s deported from the U.S. … the Mexican government plans to prosecute him for alleged cartel crimes. But Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. swears his son is being declared guilty by association.
“Yes it’s messy with all the gossip, people saying different things, lots going around,” Chavez Sr. told FightHype. “We’re staying calm because we know my son’s innocent.”
“Sure, he knows folks mixed up in that stuff, yes,” he added. “We live in Culiacan, so it’s impossible not to know all those people that are involved in those illicit things. But that doesn’t indicate anything. I knew everyone back in my day too, never got accused of anything.”
“Truth is, we’re confident the law will sort this out. We’ll fight it because my boy might be a lot of things, but he’s no criminal. All these accusations? They’re way off base.”
Chavez Jr. is set to have an immigration hearing later today (Mon. July 7th, 2025) to determine if he’ll be deported to Mexico.
“The lawyers are working in the U.S. to see if my son can stay there, or we’re prepared if my son comes here [to Mexico],” Chavez Sr. said. “We’ve got lawyers and everything ready. And we’re going to fight, you know? We’ll fight under Mexican law if they transfer my son here to Mexico.”
Chavez Jr. entered the U.S. in 2023 under a B2 tourist visa which reportedly expired in February 2024. That didn’t stop him from boxing Uriah Hall on the undercard of a Most Valuable Promotions card in July 2024, or boxing Jake Paul in June 2025. That last one may have been a little too high profile, leading to his arrest.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
