Troubled Chavez Still Expected to Fight

Despite a recent warrant issued for his arrest in Mexico for alleged tax fraud, Julio Cesar Chavez is not expected to miss his scheduled bout in Las Vegas on Oct. 12.

Chavez, who is believed to be in Los Angeles, is slated to earn $1.5 million for his fight against Joey Gamache at Caesars Palace on the undercard of the Oscar De La Hoya-Miguel Angel Gonzalez fight, a figure that could be used to pay off the $1.4 million the Mexican government believes Chavez owes.

“I think it’s going to blow over,” promoter Bob Arum said Tuesday. “Julio is in L.A. and he’s going to be training in the U.S. for the fight. He has people to take care of the other stuff.”

Arum has also loosely scheduled a Jan. 17 rematch against De La Hoya, who knocked Chavez out in four rounds last June, in the Coliseum.

Details of Chavez’s response to the charges are unclear--his representative, Alberto Gonzales, could not be reached for comment Tuesday--but people familiar with Mexican law said Chavez has been negotiating with the Mexican version of the Internal Revenue Service for months.

They expect that, as has been the case in several other high-profile tax-evasion cases recently, an injunction will be filed by Chavez’s lawyers in Mexico to block an arrest.

“This is not that serious,” said Fernando Paramo, sports editor of the L.A.-based La Opinion and an close observer of the Mexican sports scene. “This has happened to several others in Mexico, and as soon as they pay what they owe, the arrest warrant is gone.”