by David P. Greisman

Former junior featherweight and featherweight Antonio Escalante is in trouble yet again for allegedly driving drunk — he was arrested in mid-July, the third time since February, according to the El Paso (Texas) Times.

The other alleged incident occurred in June — online court records list the charge as “driving while intoxicated with a child under 15 years of age,” and one wonders if it’s the same child who was in Escalante’s car when he was cited in May for allegedly having a child not secured by a safety seat.

Online court records list similar accusations over the years: an unrestrained child in 2004, driving under the influence in 2006, driving without a valid license on multiple occasions in 2009 and 2010. Some of these cases wound up dismissed. He’s also had alleged license/license plate violations this year as well.

The June case is scheduled for a Sept. 26 trial.

Escalante tweeted earlier in the month that he’d be fighting Jose Pedraza on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” on Aug. 15, but the ESPN.com boxing schedule presently lists Pedraza’s opponent as “TBA.”

Escalante, who is 29 years old, turned pro in 2003 and is 29-6 with 20 knockouts. Among his notable wins are victories over Cornelius Lock, Mike Oliver, Miguel Roman and Gary Stark Jr.

His losses came to Jairo Sanchez early in his career, to Mauricio Pastrana in 2007, in back-to-back knockout losses to Daniel Ponce De Leon in 2010 and Alejandro Perez, and in back-to-back stoppage losses to Rocky Juarez in 2012 and Robert Marroquin in 2013.

Escalante returned this past January, scoring a first-round technical knockout of designated opponent Sammy Ventura.

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com