U.S. authorities on 19 August transferred former world middleweight boxing champion Julio César Chávez Jr. to Mexican custody, and he was immediately placed in the federal maximum-security prison in Hermosillo, Sonora, according to Mexico’s Fiscalía General de la República. Chávez Jr. had been arrested on 2 July in Studio City, California, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the Department of Homeland Security described him as a public-safety threat with alleged ties to the Cártel de Sinaloa. Mexico had sought his extradition since 2023, when a judge issued a warrant on organised-crime and illegal-weapons charges. The FGR said Chávez Jr. will be presented before a federal judge in the coming days. Legal filings in the United States show the boxer unsuccessfully sought several injunctions to block his removal. In a brief statement, the Chávez family said it trusts in the judicial process and maintains the athlete’s innocence.