Julio Cesar Chavez Jr rebounds from Jake Paul loss to score KO win while out on bail

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr returned to winning ways on Saturday night after a disastrous 2025.

In June of last year, the former WBC middleweight champion dropped a lopsided unanimous decision to YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.

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Things then went from bad to worse when he was arrested by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) days after the defeat for overstaying his visa and lying on an application to obtain a green card.

He was subsequently deported to Mexico due to an active arrest warrant from 2023 for alleged ties to the Sinaloa drug cartel.

After a brief stint behind bars in Hermosillo, Sonora, he was released on bail awaiting trial.

This allowed him to return to the ring over the weekend in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, where he blasted away Argentina’s Angel Julian Sacco (10-2-1) in the fourth round.

With his legendary father watching on from ringside, Chavez Jr dropped Sacco with a sweeping left to the body, before stopping his adversary up against the ropes.

It marked Chavez Jr’s first victory since his win over former UFC fighter Uriah Hall in July 2024, and improved his overall record to 55-7-1.

Now 39years old and with his best days firmly behind him, it remains unclear where Chavez Jr will go from here.

Regardless of what happens next, the Mexican will likely look back on his tenure in boxing with regret.

The fall of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr

While he was able to get his hands on a version of the 160lbs world title, his career was marred by substance abuse and ill discipline.

His troubles spilt over into his career for the first time in 2009 when he was suspended for nine months and fined $100,000 after testing positive for the banned diuretic furosemide.

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During this time, Chavez Jr developed an unhealthy relationship with diet pills, but was able to snatch the WBC middleweight title from Sebastian Zbik in June 2011 and defend it three times.

His reign eventually came to an end in September 2012 at the hands of Sergio Martinez.

Chavez Jr was outboxed for 11 rounds but showed immense heart in the 12th and final stanza by dropping and badly hurting Martinez.

His spirited display was quickly undone when he tested positive for cannabis post-fight and was slapped with another nine-month ban and a $900,000 fine.

From here, Chavez Jr’s career took a steep, unforgiving decline as his addiction to pills and cocaine worsened.

Over the next few years, he suffered crushing defeats to Andrzej Fonfara, Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs, all while checking in and out of rehab.

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Criminal charges piled up, culminating in his aformemtioned arrest warrant for organised crime and arms trafficking.

And while Chavez Jr would get himself a year sober for his fight with Paul, by then, the damage had already been done.

Looking like a shadow of his former self, Chavez Jr laboured to a points defeat by margins of 99–91, 98–92 and 97–93.