Sun Bowl fight to go on

The University of Texas System chancellor on Friday said he will allow a high-profile boxing match to be held on the school’s El Paso campus if law enforcement can ensure a safe environment, reversing a three-day-old ban that upset city leaders.

Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa had canceled the June 16 fight between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Andy Lee at the Sun Bowl, citing a “higher than normal” security risk. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Friday that a federal risk assessment had warned that leaders of warring Mexican drug cartels would attend.

Diana Natalicio , the president of the University of Texas at El Paso, said Cigarroa told her one reason he canceled the fight was a tie between Chavez Jr. and the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel mentioned in a federal security report.

Local media have reported Chavez Jr. is in a relationship with the widow of the son of the cartel boss.

Cigarroa set several conditions for the fight to go forward: State, local and federal law enforcement must promise they can handle any security measures, the contract with the promoter and the security plan must be approved by system officials in advance, and no alcohol can be served.

Fight promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank said he was surprised by the restrictions.

“This is preposterous. We’ve never had one bit of problems in Los Angeles, Houston or San Antonio, which are all big Hispanic communities, on a Chavez fight,” Arum said.

The risk report, done by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, also said leaders of both the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels would be present at the fight. However, it said there were no specific threats to the city, the event or those attending it, the law enforcement official said.

The cartels have waged a bloody war in Ciudad Juarez across the Rio Grande from El Paso for control of drug smuggling routes and other criminal enterprises in the city.

Cigarroa’s previous decision to cancel the fight without releasing any details angered El Paso officials and state lawmakers, who accused him of fostering a culture of fear that the city has been overrun by cartel-related violence. Despite the drug war raging in Mexico, El Paso ranks among the safest cities in the nation in terms of violent crime.

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