Le’Veon Bell mentioned Tuesday that he will not be enjoying within the NFL this season as he shifts his focus to boxing.
The operating again made the announcement at a news conference held by Social Gloves to advertise his upcoming combat in opposition to fellow star operating again Adrian Peterson at Crypto.com Enviornment in Los Angeles on July 30.
“Boxing is one thing that, you understand, they all the time say it is one thing you’ll be able to’t play boxing. Final yr, I nearly sat out the entire yr to attempt to deal with boxing as a result of I type of knew that was what I needed to transition to. This yr, I do know I am not going to be enjoying this yr as a result of I need to deal with boxing,” the 30-year-old Bell mentioned.
The three-time Professional Bowl choice made it clear this is not a “one-off” combat for him.
“That is, I assume like my introduction to type of present what I will be doing and the way I will be going about myself. Simply an intro,” he mentioned.
Peterson, who appeared on the information convention by way of a video feed, mentioned he can see boxing in his future however appeared to depart his choices open about persevering with his NFL profession.
“That is one thing that I undoubtedly can see myself doing going ahead as effectively, simply relying on how issues type of play out for me,” Peterson, 37, mentioned.
The previous MVP and seven-time Professional Bowl choice, who’s fifth on the NFL’s all-time dashing record with 14,918 yards, mentioned there’s a ring at his health club in Houston.
“We’ve a number of guys sparring on a regular basis, and I’ve had the chance prior to now to get in there with these guys a pair occasions and right here just lately, clearly, preparing for the combat. I simply been type of grinding, so I’d see this proceed to do one thing going ahead,” Peterson mentioned. “So, even after this combat, I’ll nonetheless be on my identical routine, ready for that subsequent alternative to current itself.”
Bell’s final Professional Bowl season was in 2017, when he rushed for 1,291 yards and 9 touchdowns for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After holding out all the 2018 season in a contract dispute with the Steelers, he signed as a free agent with the New York Jets in 2019 solely to be launched by the staff halfway by means of the next season. He had 429 dashing yards for 4 totally different groups the previous two seasons.
Bell completed final season, his eighth within the NFL, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whereas Peterson completed his fifteenth NFL season on injured reserve with the Seattle Seahawks. Each are free brokers.
