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It looks like Le’Veon Bell’s career change will have to wait.
The All-Pro running back, signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to replace an injured Leonard Fournette, said he seriously considered retiring from football to pursue boxing.
“Yeah, I was going to be done,” the 29-year-old said. “I was at the point where I wasn’t really going to play football. I was going to focus on boxing. Once you get that phone call — it was like, ‘Oh yes, this is it.’”
Bell’s NFL career has been on a downswing since missing the 2018 season over a contract dispute with the Steelers. With Pittsburgh, he had three seasons with 1,200-plus rushing yards.
He signed an ill-fated four-year, $52 million contract with the Jets before the 2019 season, playing just 17 games over two seasons before the sides parted ways. He played in nine games with the Chiefs, though his contribution to their Super Bowl run was just two snaps. Bell signing with the Ravens in October, and was cut in November after 83 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries over five games.
Bell, who has reportedly used boxing to train for football in the past and got penalized for a bout with a goalpost in 2017, challenged YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul to a fight on Twitter on Saturday after Paul defeated Tyron Woodley for a second time.
“@jakepaul fight me, stop tryna fight ppl who can’t box,” Bell tweeted, who was most recently listed at 225 pounds.
He’d likely need to drop more than 30 pounds to fight Paul, who weighed in at 191.4 pounds before his fight with Woodley. The Paul-Woodley bout was contracted for a 192-pound weight limit.
For now, Bell can keep the weight on and hold off trading his receiving gloves for boxing mitts.
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