After being a two-time All-Pro running back, Le’Veon Bell has not played in the National Football League this season and instead has focused on an actual boxing career. He has had one amateur fight, and that was against another former NFL running back, Adrian Peterson. Bell picked up a knockout victory and has recently announced another fight with ambitions to make a professional boxing career. However, it is completely idiotic that he believes he will even sniff a boxing championship of any kind.
The boxing odds of Le’Veon Bell ending up in a championship fight seems to be astronomical as he is 0-0 as a professional at 30 years old, but I guess you can never say never in the world of promoting and boxing.
He’s Not Fighting Boxers
He fought Adrian Peterson to begin his boxing career and did not start doing any boxing workouts until 2020 while switching his career path from football. Now, he is fighting seven weeks after his debut fight on the Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva boxing card as he is fighting an MMA fighter in Uriah Hall. The boxing betting odds are going to be all over this fight, but that’s one of the major issues: he is not fighting actual boxers.
It makes sense, too, as his boxing odds tonight would drastically decrease as he would get demolished against actual boxers that have trained all their life. These boxers have professional experience by 30 years old, and I understand he is a world-class professional athlete and some things are going to come a little bit easier for him, but it’s a whole lot more difficult than just picking up a sport later in life.
There is no issue with him boxing on these “freak show” boxing cards because he is not taking the spot of someone who has been preparing for a moment like this for their entire life. He has name recognition and the ability to draw some people in that were either Pittsburgh Steelers or New York Jets fans, but boxing fans do not know who he is. He’s not going to jump to the front of the line.
He is a good celebrity boxer, but that does not mean he is a good boxer that can compete with actual boxers.
Finding His Little Niche
Le’Veon Bell is a ridiculously good athlete, and unless one of these “freak show” cards where non-boxers are littered up and down the card becomes a legitimate promotion with their own championship belts, there is no rhyme or reason for Bell to even sniff a championship fight. Bell spoke to ESPN ahead of his fight and explained he knows that things are not just going to be handed to him.
“Everybody kind of thinks I’m just talking about it. They don’t know all the hard work and sacrifices I’ve made to get to this point here. That’s why Oct. 29 [fight against Hall] is a great opportunity to show people what I’ve been doing.”
Imagine the amount of arrogance that he must have thought just because he played in the National Football League that he could now all of a sudden compete in the world of boxing because his football skills had washed up. If it was a boxer attempting to make the leap from their sport to the National Football League, especially at 30 years old, because he did some ladder drills or caught some passes, we would look at them like they had five heads. Don’t let the fact that you might be a fan of his or he’s trying to “follow his dreams” that he thought up after he was washed up as a running back be a distraction that he believes he can compete and win a world championship in the sport of boxing.
What do you think about Le’Veon Bell beginning a new career in the world of boxing?
