As a professional, Julio César Chávez fought 115 times in the ring. Now, the former world champion said he was ready to fight outside of it to defend his same-name son, who was arrested by U.S. immigration agents at his Los Angeles home for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application.

The 39-year-old Chávez Jr. also has an active warrant for his arrest in Mexico for alleged arms and drug trafficking and suggested ties to the Sinaloa Cartel.

“It’s complicated, there’s a lot of talk, but we’re calm because we know my son’s innocence,” the elder Chavez told El Heraldo newspaper. “My son will be anything you want, anything, but he is not a criminal ...”

Alejandro Gertz Manero, Mexico’s Attorney General, said on Sunday that the investigation against Chávez Jr. started in 2019 after a complaint filed by U.S. authorities against the Sinaloa Cartel for organized crime, human trafficking, arms trafficking, and drug trafficking.

“He knows a lot of people, we live in Culiacan, it would be impossible not to know all of the people that are doing illicit stuff, but that does not mean nothing,” Chavez said. “In my time I met everybody, and they did not come after me.”

Chávez Sr. was considered one of the best Mexican boxers of all time; a world champion at three divisions. In the 1980s and ‘90s he was a huge celebrity who mixed with drug dealers. He claimed in the past to have been friends with drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

Gertz Manero said Chavez Jr.’s lawyers have requested at least five injunctions in Mexico, which have been rejected because the boxer is still in the United States.

“Lawyers in the United States are working to see if he stays there, and we’re prepared if he comes here,” Chavez Sr. said. “We’ll fight under Mexican law if he’s transferred here.”

The son’s arrest came only days after the former middleweight champion lost to influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a bout at Honda Center.

NBA

The Indiana Pacers won’t be rushing guard Tyrese Haliburton back to the court next season as he recovers from a torn right Achilles tendon.

Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said Monday in a news conference that he has no doubt Haliburton “will be back better than ever. ... He will not play next year, though. We would not jeopardize that now. Don’t get any hopes up that he will play.”

Haliburton suffered his Achilles injury early in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. He had surgery June 23 at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, the Pacers announced.

It was a historic postseason for Haliburton, who turned in an array of buzzer-beating winners, incredible plays and some unprecedented stat lines. The Oklahoma City Thunder were crowned champions after beating the Pacers 103-91.

Haliburton recently wrote on social media: “And honestly, right now, torn Achilles and all, I don’t regret it. I’d do it again, and again after that, to fight for this city and my brothers. For the chance to do something special.”

Pritchard told reporters Monday that Haliburton’s mentality “just shows you what kind of kid he is.”

The New York Knicks hired Mike Brown on Monday, turning to the two-time NBA Coach of the Year after firing Tom Thibodeau.

The Knicks offered the job to Brown last week and announced Monday that he would be taking over the team that reached the Eastern Conference finals last season for the first time in 25 years.

They decided to fire Thibodeau despite that and eventually picked Brown, who wasn’t out of work long after getting fired by the Sacramento Kings during last season.

The Knicks liked Brown’s experience working as an assistant on teams that have won four NBA championships — two more than the Knicks franchise has won.

“Mike has coached on the biggest stages in our sport and brings championship pedigree to our organization,” Knicks president Leon Rose said in a statement.

NHL

Tyler Johnson has announced his retirement after playing 13 NHL seasons and winning the Stanley Cup twice with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Johnson called it a career in a lengthy message posted on social media Monday. Johnson had battled injuries in recent years and is set to turn 35 on July 29.

“As a short kid from a small town, I saw my chances of playing in the NHL as very slim,” Johnson wrote on Instagram. “But my family — my parents, Ken and Debbie, and my grandparents — believed in me when doubt clouded my mind. Their unwavering faith turned that dream into reality.”

Listed at 5-foot-8 and 191 pounds, Johnson won at just about ever level, capturing the Western Hockey League and Memorial Cup championships in 2008 with his hometown Spokane Chiefs and the Calder Cup championship with Norfolk of the American Hockey League in 2012.

Cam York and the Philadelphia Flyers agreed to terms Monday on a five-year contract worth $25.75 million, with re-signing the restricted free agent defenseman completing perhaps the team’s last important piece of offseason business.

York, 25, will count $5.15 million against the salary cap through the 2029-30 NHL season.

WNBA

The Dallas Wings will try again showcasing a Caitlin Clark-Paige Bueckers matchup at the home of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.

The Wings said Monday the club is moving the Aug. 1 game against Clark and the Indiana Fever to American Airlines Center.

What was supposed to be the first matchup of the past two No. 1 picks in the WNBA draft was held at the AAC on June 27. Clark missed the Fever’s 94-86 victory with a groin injury. Bueckers scored 27 points, the second-highest total of her rookie season.

If Clark returns this week from the groin injury that has sidelined her the past five games, the first meeting with Bueckers could come Sunday at Indianapolis.

Despite Clark’s absence last month, the Wings’ first game at the home of the Mavs drew 20,409 fans.