HERMOSILLO, Mexico — A Mexican judge on Saturday said Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will go on trial for accusations of having cartel ties but could await that trial outside of detention, the boxer’s lawyer said.
The lawyer, Ruben Fernando Benítez Alvarez, confirmed that the court announced additional measures and granted three months of additional investigation into the case. He made the comments while walking out of a court hearing in the northern Mexican city of Hermosillo.
Chavez, who had been living in the United States for several years, was arrested July 2 by federal agents outside his Los Angeles home for overstaying his visa and lying on an application to obtain a green card. The arrest came just days after a fight he had with famed American boxer Jake Paul in Los Angeles.
Since 2019, Mexican prosecutors have been investigating the 39-year-old boxer after a complaint filed by U.S. authorities against the Sinaloa Cartel for organized crime, human trafficking, arms trafficking and drug trafficking.
After nearly a month and a half in detention, Chavez was deported Aug. 19 and handed over to agents of the Federal Attorney General’s Office in Sonora state, who transferred him to the Federal Social Reintegration Center in Hermosillo.
The case led to investigations against 13 people, among them Ovidio Guzman Lopez — the son of convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman — along with some collaborators, hitmen and accomplices of the criminal organization. Guzman Lopez was arrested in January 2023 and extradited to the United States eight months later.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Chavez was wanted since 2023 in Mexico, but that he wasn’t detained because he spent most of the time in the U.S.
“The hope is that he will be deported and serve the sentence in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said in July.
The high-profile case has drawn attention at a time when the Trump administration is pressuring Mexico to crack down on organized crime, canceling visas of notable Mexican artists and celebrities and ramping up deportations.
The life of the son of Julio Cesar Chavez, one of Mexico’s most popular and successful boxers, has been marked by scandals throughout a career lived in his father’s shadow.
Chavez Jr. has experience with addiction to various drugs during much of his career and has been arrested multiple times. In 2012, he was found guilty of driving under the influence in Los Angeles and was sentenced to 13 days in jail.
In early 2024, he was arrested for weapons possession. Police reported that Chavez Jr. had two rifles. He was released shortly afterward upon posting $50,000 bail, on the condition that he attend a facility to receive treatment for his addiction.