Bell TKOs Peterson in clash of former NFL RBs

09/11/2022

Covers college basketball
Joined ESPN.com in 2011
Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

In a boxing match featuring two former NFL stars, Le’Veon Bell got the better of Adrian Peterson, rocking him with a hard right hand to score a TKO victory in the fifth round Saturday night at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles.

Bell and Peterson were the two biggest names on the card, which was dubbed “Social Gloves: No More Talk.”

After four sluggish rounds in their five-round exhibition, Bell dropped Peterson in the fifth with a straight right that caught him flush on the chin. Peterson was wobbly as he got back to his feet, forcing the referee to stop the bout as Peterson swayed from side to side.

Peterson knocked Bell down earlier in the fight, but it a was mostly uneventful affair until Bell’s knockout blow in the fifth.

“I appreciate everybody’s love and support for real,” Bell, the former Pittsburgh Steelers star, said after the fight. “That’s really what kept me going. Honestly, all the hate … that motivates me.”

Bell reiterated his plans to pursue a career in boxing, saying that he has put football behind him.

Before Saturday night’s event, Bell, who played in eight games total last year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baltimore Ravens, said he wanted to become a star in the ring after a standout career on the football field.

Peterson, who is fifth on the NFL’s all-time list with 14,918 career rushing yards, played a total of four games last season with the Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks. Like Bell, Peterson, 37, has not officially retired. He said he’d always been a fan of boxing and accepted the opportunity to have fun and stay in shape for a potential return to the NFL.

Saturday night’s event was headlined by YouTube star Austin McBroom, a former college basketball player who has 6.4 million followers on Instagram. And Nick Young, the former NBA standout also known as Swaggy P, faced Minikon, a social media influencer, on the card, too.

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