Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has experienced a tumultuous life and boxing career, marked by incidents including arrests for gun possession, being robbed by women in a hotel room, and quitting mid-fight.
Despite these past issues, perhaps his most controversial moment would be suffering a loss to Jake Paul.
As the son of Mexico`s revered fighter, Julio Cesar Sr., Chavez Jr. was raised amidst his legendary father`s success, witnessing his world title victories across three divisions.
He gained national attention from a young age, participating in a televised exhibition bout against the son of fellow boxer Jorge Paez.
Chavez Jr. took up boxing again at 17 and turned professional in 2003, remarkably, without any amateur background.
Forced to learn on the job, the second-generation boxer had up to 11 fights in 2004, constantly under public scrutiny.
By 2011, after racking up 45 fights in eight years, Chavez Jr. became the WBC middleweight world champion by defeating Sebastian Zbik.
He successfully defended the prestigious green and gold belt—synonymous with his father—three times, including a win over Ireland`s Andy Lee.
However, his career started to unravel after his subsequent fight against Argentine Sergio Martinez.
At that time, the middleweight champion was trained by the esteemed Freddie Roach, sharing a gym with Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao.
But Chavez Jr. proved difficult to handle, often setting his own training times and failing to show up, issues frequently captured by camera crews.
In one instance, Roach waited for hours at the gym only to receive news that Chavez Jr. would not be coming.
Roach reacted with frustration: “He doesn`t want to train? What the f***. No, I have never seen anything like this. Never.”
Years later, Roach revealed the extent of the problem: “When you saw me on HBO waiting at the gym, that happened 31 times… The only reason I stayed was because his father asked me to stay and I respected his dad.”
He continued, “He kept telling me to stay, that he would show up, but he never did. He sparred five days for that fight, he did the mitts four days for that fight.”
“He ate Cheerios with his underwear on at home more than he was in the gym.”
“I love Julio, he`s a great guy but I`m disappointed that he didn`t show his best that night.”
Chavez Jr. had an inconsistent relationship with Roach over the years and at one point hired Spanish-speaking American Robert Garcia.
Garcia, along with Ricky Funez based in Los Angeles, reportedly shared the responsibility of keeping the `party animal` Chavez Jr. in line.
Funez recalled: “Me and Robert are good friends from when we were trying to train Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, who was a total rebel we had to try to control together.”
“One day it was my turn to look after him and I went to knock on his hotel door and he was gone – he had jumped out of the second-floor window to go party, it took me two f***ing days to find him.”
By 2017, Chavez Jr. secured a major all-Mexican pay-per-view showdown against superstar champion Canelo Alvarez.
Having again switched trainers, this time to Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain, Chavez Jr. famously agreed to bet his entire fight purse against Canelo`s.
Given this apparent confidence, fans might have been led to believe the undisciplined son of a legend had finally turned over a new leaf.
However, after 12 rounds against Canelo – in which one judge didn`t give Chavez Jr. a single round – it became clear that nothing had changed.
Chavez Jr. was guaranteed $3 million (approximately £2.3m) for the dominant loss and celebrated afterwards.
He was filmed partying in a Las Vegas hotel room with women rubbing his chest.
Married to Frida, with whom he has a daughter and a son, Chavez Jr. denied the women were prostitutes.
He stated: “I would never pay to sleep with a woman. I know I am very trusting, and it was an error, but it’s too much to say I’m the worst and that I am a bad example for kids.”
Denying allegations of infidelity, the boxer added: “Money comes and goes, but I want to make it clear to my wife that nothing happened with the women in the video.”
Frida, who has remained married to Chavez Jr., accused the women of stealing her husband`s £30,000 Hublot watch.
She also claimed his $3 million fight cheque was stolen.
According to Frida, they met a British man and a group of women at the hotel bar on May 8 before she went upstairs to look after their daughter.
Frida stated they were with the boxer until the early morning hours, and the items were missing when she checked the room the next morning.
She told ESPN Deportes: “I had the cheque on the table and when I saw that it was not there, I open the papers and it was not there, nor was the [watch].”
The cheque was later recovered.
Chavez Jr.`s career stalled after the loss to Canelo, with him fighting only twice a year, and his performance continued to decline.
In a 2019 fight against Daniel Jacobs, Chavez Jr. quit after five rounds, prompting the Arizona crowd to throw beer and food into the ring.
He initially cited a hand injury, while his team blamed a broken nose. His embarrassed father, ringside, was visibly frustrated.
Oliver Croft