Mexican boxing legend Jorge Arce reveals he was once pulled over and blindfolded by cops who took him to meet El Chapo and other top cartel leaders who chipped in to honor his title wins with a brand new BMW
- Jorge Arce said he was once blindfolded by police officers during a traffic stop and taken to a ranch to meet the country’s infamous drug traffickers
- The Mexican boxing great told sports reporter Javier Alarcón he met Sinaloa Cartel co-founders Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada
- Juan José ‘El Azul’ Esparragoza, who founded the Guadalajara Cartel, and members of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel were present at the party
- The retired pugilist said the drug lords said they were big fans of his and wanted to honor his greatness by gifting him a BMW X5
- Arce is one of two Mexican boxers to win titles in four different weight classes
A Mexican boxing great has opened up about the time he was pulled over by cops, blindfolded and taken to a ranch to meet the country’s most notorious drug lords.
During a YouTube interview with sports reporter Javier Alarcón, Jorge Arce said he was driven to an unknown location where Mexican drug lords including Sinaloa Cartel co-founders Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada were awaiting him.
‘One day the police stopped me and they took me, they blindfolded me because they [the drug lords] wanted to greet me and they took me to a ranch, I don’t know, I didn’t know where because they blindfolded me,’ said Arce, only one of two Mexican fighters to win titles in four different weight classes.
‘[The cops said] that nothing was going to happen to me and I went, [there was] no way of saying no, because they were armed people.’
Jorge Arce told Mexican sports reporter Javier Alarcón in an interview that cops stopped his vehicle and blindfolded him before taking him to a ranch to meet Sinaloa Cartel co-founders Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and several other cartel leaders
Jorge Arce (left) retired in December 2012 following his loss to Nonito Donaire (right). Arce last week told Mexican sports reported Javier Alarcón that he turned down a new BMW X5 that El Chapo and other cartel leaders wanted to gift him as a way of recognizing his in-ring greatness
Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán (pictured) and other cartel leaders were giddy when they met boxing legend Jorge Arce, who is one of two Mexican boxers to win titles in four different weight classes
According to Arce, the unexpected encounter took place towards the end of 2003 when he participated in Mexican television network Televisa’s version of Big Brother, the Big Brother V.I.P.
The 40-year-old, who retired after suffering a knockout loss in to Nonito Donaire in December 2012, said all of the cartel leaders were giddy at the chance meeting because they were big fans of his.
‘They greeted me, I greeted all the people, all the names [in drug trafficking] that you can imagine, they were there at that party, I greeted everyone, “Hello, very pleased, I have seen you,”’ Arce said.
Arce, who was born and raised in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, and turned pro at the age of 16, remembered the feared drug lords replying, ‘we love you champ, get ready, take care of yourself and we bet on you.’
Jorge Arce once rejected a gifted BMW SUV during a meeting with Mexico’s most feared drug traffickers
Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada (left) and Guadalajara Cartel co-founder Juan José ‘El Azul’ Esparragoza (right) were also present the day Mexican boxing legend showed up blindfolded at an unknown ranch
Arce also remembered mingling with the late Juan José ‘El Azul’ Esparragoza, who co-founded the Guadalajara Cartel and later joined forces with El Chapo’s organization, and members of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, including its founder Arturo Beltrán Leyva, who would later feud with El Chapo’s syndicate before he was killed in a December 2009 shootout with the Mexican military.
El Chapo and the rest of the drug traffickers presented him a brand new BMX X5 that had a bow tied around it.
However, Arce politely turned it down.
‘Well, then, what do you want?,’ Arce recounted the drug lords asking.
Arce recalled saying, ‘all I want is for you to take me to where I was picked up, safe and sound, nothing else.’
‘I did not accept the gift and here I am,’ he added.