Ex-Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell KOs Adrian Peterson in Farcical Boxing Show Between NFL Vets

For a while, it seemed that whoever trained Le’Veon Bell for his boxing match was playing an elaborate joke on him. Then Adrian Peterson ran straight onto a hard right side.

The former dwindling Pittsburgh Steelers emerged victorious from a sparsely attended Social Gloves exhibition against his fellow NFL that slumped back Saturday despite an embarrassing form in the opening four rounds. Each boxer took only a handful of punches — and few, if any, significant strikes — as the announcers grimly tried to justify what viewers had paid for.

Bell, in particular, seemed to be fighting somewhere around Nate Robinson’s level, nearly bending over at the waist every time he tried to get punched and being knocked down by a single punch in the second round.

But, of course, boxing matches can be decided in one fell swoop, whether it’s Deontay Wilder or a former Pro Bowler trying to switch sports. In the fifth round, Bell caught Peterson with one of his toughest swings of the night, leaving the ex-MVP too dazed to continue.

That wasn’t the wildest ending to the night, though, as former NBA guard Nick “Swaggy P” Young saw his boxing debut end with him flying through the ropes after contacting TikTok influencer Minikon, a last-minute replacement for rapper BlueFace.

The match was called off when Young lay on the mat in obvious pain.

Fortunately for Peterson and Young, not many people were around to witness his fall. According to a report by Dexertothe Social Gloves event only sold about 200 tickets at the 22,000-seat Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, and the organizers ended up resorting to giving away 1,000 tickets.

Even with that effort to increase attendance, there were plenty of empty seats visible to make the Oakland Athletics blush. The void was almost always visible during the stream, but the gloom came into view via social media video.

However he got there, at least Bell can call himself a winner. That’s a good thing, because the former All-Pro apparently wants to make this his profession.

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Bell said he will stay away from football to focus on boxing before the fight and reiterated that after his win on Saturday. When asked if he wants to go professional or stay with the celebrity boxing circuit, he replied “hell yeah”.

“I want to see how far I can go. I want to test my limits,” Bell said after the game. “I’m going to keep going, see what happens next. I’m going to enjoy tonight, don’t get me wrong. I’ve worked so hard for so long. I’m going to enjoy tonight and then work out the rest later.”