Background and career
Julio César Chávez Carrasco (born 16 February 1986), better known as Julio César Chávez Jr., is a Mexican professional boxer who held the WBC middleweight title from 2011 to 2012. He is the son of former three-division world champion of boxing Julio César Chávez. Chávez Jr. is the older brother of Omar Chávez. He also has a younger sister, Nicole.
Chávez Jr. was born in the state of Sinaloa, when his father held the WBC World Championship at super featherweight. He rose to prominence as a child, when his father would take him and his brother Omar into the ring as children before each of his fights. When he was a teenager, his parents divorced. He has been married to Frida Muñoz, the mother of a granddaughter of former Sinaloa Cartel head Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
In 2012, Chávez Jr. was convicted for driving under influence in Los Angeles and sentenced to 13 days in prison. In 2024, he was arrested on possessing two AR-style ghost rifles, but was released on a $50,000 bond and the condition that he would undergo drug rehabilitation treatment. On 2 July 2025, Chávez Jr. was arrested by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Studio City. He was processed for deportation as he had an active arrest warrant in Mexico since 2023 due to his alleged involvement with the Sinaloa Cartel. According to a 2019 investigation by the Attorney General of Mexico Alejandro Gertz Manero, the cartel head of security Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas ordered Chávez Jr. to assault drug traffickers for their failures. President Claudia Sheinbaum said he had not been arrested in Mexico because he spent most of his time in the United States. On 19 August 2025, it was reported that Chávez Jr. was deported to Mexico and jailed in Hermosillo, Sonora. He was later released on bail to await trial outside of custody.
Chávez's amateur career consisted of only two fights against former world champion Jorge Páez's oldest son Jorge Páez Jr.; both of the exhibitions bouts were shown on Mexican television.
After those amateur fights, Chávez Jr. started his professional boxing career at 17 years old. On 26 September 2003, at Super Featherweight (130 lbs), he won his professional debut by outpointing Jonathan Hernandez over six rounds in Chávez Jr.'s native Culiacán, Sinaloa. Chávez Jr. was signed with Bob Arum's Top Rank. Many of his fights have been held during boxing programs that have been headed by his father; he has also been featured on the undercards of many major pay-per-view fights (rare for an up-and-coming fighter, but not unexpected in his case given his father's fame). He is considerably taller than his father. Chávez Jr. set a fighting pace that was reminiscent of Chávez Sr.'s own pace when the latter was a younger man: in 2004, he fought eleven times, not having a fight only in August during that year. Chávez won by a split decision over Matt Vanda 12 July 2008. Scores for the fight were 97–93 and 100–90, while losing 96–95 on another card. Chávez struggled with making weight for several bouts and was suspended following his win over Troy Rowland for using a banned diuretic, furosemide, to make the 160-pound weight limit. As a result, the fight was changed to a no contest.
On 26 June 2010, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Chávez Jr. had a win against John Duddy, in what many regard as his first serious fight. In December 2010, Alfonso Gómez was signed to match up against the undefeated Chávez Jr. at middleweight (the contracted weight was 157) for Chávez Jr.'s WBC Silver Middleweight belt on the In Harm's Way card as the main event. However, during training for the bout, Alfonso tore some ligaments in his left elbow and had to withdraw from the card and undergo a few months of rehab. For his part, Chávez Jr. was set to fight Paweł Wolak as a replacement bout, but after adjusting the weight limit for said match to 165 lbs, Chávez Jr. had to pull out due to the flu messing up his training and weight loss and then in January he went on to beat title contender Billy Lyell.
