For anyone who thought Le’Veon Bell was only intending to dabble in the sport of boxing when he took on another former NFL running back in Adrian Peterson, Bell wants to make it clear that is not the case. Bell tells ESPN that he’s fully committed to a career in boxing and is dedicated to go as far as his talents will take him.
“I gotta be all-in on boxing if I’m gonna do this, because it’s not something you can play around with if you want to be the best at it,” Bell said. “I’m not about to do something if I ain’t trying to be the best at it, to be honest. I’m not doing this as a hobby. I’m not just doing it to try and get money or any type of fame. For me, it’s more for myself. See how far I can go.”
Bell would knock Adrian Peterson out in his professional debut, which he says was one the greatest feeling in the world, but says he doesn’t want to disrespect the sport and its fighters by thinking he can just jump into the deep end as he’s set to appear on the undercard of Jake Paul vs Anderson Silva this weekend, facing MMA fighter Uriah Hall.
His ultimate goal is a big one, to become a world champion, and knows he’s going to have to work his way up to that sort of opportunity. At age 30 and with no real amatuer or professional fighting experience, that’s going to be a mighty tall task, but Bell intends to show the public that he’s been putting the work in to achieve those goals as he steps up in class.
And as Bell looks to campaign in the cruiserweight division, he views this weekend’s fight to eventually lead him into future fights against Jake or Logan Paul, KSI, and then onto actual world class boxers.
You cannot question the ambition of Bell here, but we’ll get a better sense of his progression when we see him in action again on Saturday.