Jose Benavidez Jr arrested in Arizona Saturday night

Welterweight contender Jose Benavidez, Jr. was already dealing with a leg injury postponing his upcoming August ESPN fight. Now, he’s dealing with authorities in Arizona after being arrested late Saturday night for drag racing his automobile through traffic.

TMZ was the first to report Sunday night that Benavidez was taken into custody by Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers for reckless speeding charges:

Jose Benavidez was arrested on street racing charges out of Arizona this weekend. https://t.co/o4SZhOam82

— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) July 29, 2019

Benavides was booked in the Maricopa County Jail on one count of misdemeanor racing / exhibition of speed and one count of driving with a suspended or revoked license. The gossip site reported that Benavidez did bond out of jail on Sunday

It is expected there will be more details on his specific charges Monday.

Benavidez is 27-1 and had to postpone his upcoming ESPN main event fight on August 17th with veteran contender Luis Collazo due to his leg injury.

Benavidez unsuccessfully fought WBO Welterweight Champion Terence Crawford in October (above). He was being outclassed and beaten decisively before Crawford stopped him in the 12th and final round for his first career loss.

Benavidez showed plenty of guts throughout the fight, as Crawford rocked him on two or three occasions, but couldn’t finish him until the final round.

The Mexican-American Benavidez was previously shot in the same leg that is currently injured, back in 2016 in Arizona and was told then, he might not ever fight again. He took a year and a half off, but came back and won two important battles to get in the title shot with Crawford.

The second of those comeback fights was a first round KO of Colombian Frank Rojas in June of 2018 in Las Vegas.

No one has ever been charged in Benavidez’s shooting case.

There is no official word from Top Rank and ESPN on the exact date of the rescheduled fight with Collazo for October, yet or whether Benavidez’s legal troubles may now jeopardize it.