{"id":154732,"date":"2025-09-19T11:17:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T11:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/154732\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T11:17:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T11:17:10","slug":"boxer-21-found-dead-wrapped-in-blanket-with-police-investigating-boxing-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/154732\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxer, 21, found dead wrapped in blanket with police investigating | Boxing | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

A police investigation has been launched after a rising boxing<\/a> star was found dead on a roadside. Mexican boxing has been plunged into mourning after the body of Jesus Ivan Mercado Cabrera was discovered wrapped in a blanket and tape in a desert area near the border between the states of Sonora and Baja California, just south of the US border.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old, who was one of the country’s top prospects, had been reported missing. After a suspicious package was reported near a road, Mercado Cabrera was identified by his various tattoos. There were no signs of physical violence on the deceased, but police believe he was murdered, according to local media.<\/a> A group from San Luis Rio Colorado that was looking for Mercado Cabrera issued a statement confirming his death.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It read: \u201cFamily located. The young man who was found dead has been identified by his relatives, who will begin the necessary procedures to give him a Christian and dignified burial. RIP Jesus Ivan Mercado Cabrera.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thank everyone who took the time to react and share our post. Thanks to everyone, he will return to his loved ones. Thank you for your support in sharing and showing empathy for the suffering of others. \u201d<\/p>\n

Mercado Cabrera had a professional record of seven wins, nine losses and one draw from his 17 professional fights. Despite the number of defeats on his records, there were high hopes he could go far in the sport.<\/p>\n

Known as \u2018Rafaguita\u2019 and originally from Nogales, Mercado Cabrera is said to have recently moved to San Luis Rio Colorado to further his career. Devastated fans have taken to social media to pay tribute to the young fighter. One said: \u201cRest in power young king.\u201d Another added: \u201cMay you rest, fierce warrior, champ.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news of Mercado Cabrera\u2019s death adds to a tragic week for the sport following the passing of former world champion Ricky Hatton,<\/a> who was found dead on Sunday morning. Greater Manchester Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.<\/p>\n

The death of the 46-year-old, one of the most popular British boxers of all time, has triggered an outpouring of tributes from across the sporting world. A family statement issued via Hatton\u2019s Instagram<\/a> account on Wednesday said Hatton had been found by his long-time manager, Paul Speak.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all distraught at the events of recent days,\u201d the statement began. \u201cTo all our knowledge, despite his well-documented struggles, Richard was in a good place.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was excited for the future; his bag was packed ready to go to Dubai to promote a comeback fight and he was planning a celebration in Dubai, which his beloved girls Millie and Fearne were to be the centre of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A police investigation has been launched after a rising boxing star was found dead on a roadside. Mexican…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,8207,49,48,81474,81475,1072,10190,74328,2326,82],"class_list":["post-154732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-section","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jesus-ivan-mercado-cabrera","tag-mexican-boxing","tag-mexico","tag-murder","tag-murder-investigation","tag-ricky-hatton","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}