Le'Veon Bell, Former NFL All-Pro Running Back

Football season is here. The new Odyssey app lets you stay connected to your NFL team. Your station, your shows. Follow your favorite stations and come back again and again. Get real-time updates on everything you care about. Miss your show?

Jump back with our awesome re-wide feature. The Odyssey app is NFL football. Live and on demand. Wherever you are, whenever you want. And do we mention it's all free? Download the Odyssey app today.

International superstar and serial risk taker, Jake the problem child, Paul will face the biggest challenge of his career when he takes on UFC legend and accomplished boxer, Anderson the Spider Silva in a eight-round bout at a catch weight of 187 pounds on Saturday, October 29th in a most valuable promotions event live on Showtime Pay-Per-View at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific from Desert Diamond Arena, just outside of Phoenix, Arizona, and in the undercard, Elite UFC Striker Uriah Hall and former NFL star running back, Le'Veon Bell, will make their pro debuts in a four-round cruiserweight bout, contracted at 195 pounds, and now joining us on the Zach Gilb Show on CBS Sports Radio is the former NFL All-Pro running back in Le'Veon Bell. Le'Veon, appreciate the time. How you been? Man, I've been good. You know, this whole process, I've just been enjoying it, been embracing it. I'm prepared.

I'm so ready, bro, for Saturday. Yeah, so when it was first announced that you were going to be boxing, and I know that a month ago you knocked out Adrian Peterson, which is something I never thought I would say, I wondered, why are you doing this? So, like, what drove you to get to the sport of boxing? To be honest, it started as a workout, just like an extra cardio workout.

I was using it for, in football season, just, like, big extra conditioning. And then, over the course of years, like, the last two, three years, I've been feeling myself getting better, getting better, getting better. And in retrospect, the same two, three years, I haven't necessarily been, I guess, as productive on the football field, so I kind of had my mind set of, like, I wanted a box next, because football just wasn't necessarily going the way I had planned it. And I just knew I had so much more to give, you know, athletically speaking. And I made my mind of it. I wanted to be a champion, you know, as I got to take the necessary steps to take that, you know, to move towards that goal.

And, you know, Adrian Peterson was the first guy to get into the ring. I think it was, like, the first step for me. I kind of view that as, like, kind of like a glorifying sparring match. And then, you know, now it's just time to, like, really show people, like, okay, this is the time, you know what I'm saying? So, my first pro fight, fight a guy with, you know, like, your eye hole with tons of experience. So, I'm really showing people, like, how seriously I'm taking the sport, you know, to even, you know, agree to a fight like this. And not only that, I'm going to show people how dedicated and how motivated I've been to not only step into the ring with them, but actually beat this guy. How did this fight come about? And were you surprised when you found out that, hey, I'm fighting up against your eye hole?

Because, like you said, that's a pretty big step this early on. Yeah. So, I had the fight with Adrian Peterson, like, that Saturday, September 10th, whatever. Literally, like, two days later, Jake Paul asked me to be on his show. So, I was on his show, we were just talking, and he just randomly threw it out, like, because I thought he probably thought I was going to turn it down. But he just randomly threw it out, like, maybe, you know, would you fight him on a fight card?

Then he sold me the date, whatever. He said, October 29th, I'm like, yeah, I'm fighting your fight card, you know what I'm saying? He's like, would you fight Frank Gore? I said, nah, I don't want to fight no more football players, you know what I'm saying? Because that's what I told him, that's when the cat got out the bag, like, nah, I don't want to fight no more football players. If anything, I'll fight Darren Williams, because Darren Williams beat Frank Gore, so I'll fight Darren Williams. So, then the Darren Williams thing, I guess he was hurt.

He wouldn't have been prepared to fight or ready to fight. So, and then Uriah Hall was brought to be. I was like, Uriah Hall, you know what I'm saying? How you feel about this? Do you feel like you're ready for this type of opponent?

This, that, and the other. I straight up said, yeah. Like, Uriah Hall, that's actually perfect, you know what I'm saying? Let me just get the other athlete to, you know, basketball for a while.

Let me just get that. Let me just fight an MMA guy, so people know exactly how serious I'm taking the sport and where I'm trying to go with it. So, you're not nervous whatsoever? No, not nervous.

It's like, I'm like, hell, I'm more, if anything, like, my anxiety, any anxious that I have, it'd be more so like, my performance and like, how far I can actually go. I had the same thing with football, like, like, no matter what game it was, it could be a one o'clock game on a Sunday. It could be a prime time game Monday night.

It could be a playoff game or whatever it was. Always had that, that feeling inside of me. It's like, okay, I know I prepared well.

I know I've done everything that I need to do now. Just me going out there and executing it, you know what I'm saying? And that's the only feeling I always have in myself, but I don't necessarily work with my opponent at all, because there's nothing I feel like they can do to jeopardize what I'm doing.

Lady, I'm Bell here with us. What's your scouting report as a boxer? Man, I think a lot of people are going to kind of, like, when they see me boss, they're going to say, be patient, like, I'm a patient guy, same way they say in football. Slick, you know, Lucis, same thing they say in football. A lot of things that they say about football, it's going to translate into boxing.

I'm like, they're the same person, you know, same thing. I don't really depend on my athletic ability so much. It's really more of my mind, you know, and me dictating and me manipulating my opponents.

And, you know, that's really what it is. Lady, I'm Bell here with us. How do you look back at your NFL career, which was very successful? I think I enjoyed my time. I enjoyed all my time in the league.

I remember the years when I had all-pro years and the years when I didn't necessarily play as much. You know, I feel like they all kind of made me to the person I am today. And, you know, they made me confident. They made me get more humbled. I understand the sacrifice it takes to be great. The sacrifice it takes to be with teams and things like that, they all helped me. Like, every year, the NFL helped me prepare up until this point because all the emotions I've had, even like this whole fight week leading up to this fight week, it's like I feel like I've been doing this for so long just because I've been in the NFL and I have to deal with, you know, all right, Monday we've got this, Tuesday we've got this, Wednesday we've got this, all right, now it's fight week.

You know what I'm saying? I don't get too high during the week or I don't get too low. I kind of stay neutral. And I think me playing in the league so long kind of helped me in that sense, even when I'm in, you know, control our emotions when I'm in the ring, even before the fight, you know what I'm saying? When I'm in the arena, I just feel like my experience to just be performing in front of people has been helpful, you know, and I don't ever take things, you know, I don't get too high on myself and I don't get too low on myself, you know what I'm trying to say? I just try to stay neutral and I think, you know, being an NFL really helped me in that aspect.

Well, Avion Bell, it seems like you're really invested in this. If a team calls you, though, tomorrow, would you go back to the NFL or is that over? Hell no.

No, that's over. The only way I would go, the only way I would go back is the playoffs. Like, I would only play in the playoffs. That would be the only way. Yeah, I would not play.

I ain't playing no more than like three, four games. No, because that's definitely my boxing. I did see your Instagram post that you said that if you could go back to 2018, you would love to hop in a time machine. What would you do differently? How would you handle that differently? I think 2018 is just like, because that was the holdout year and I feel like, I feel like I would have just, because it was like so much that I was like saying, like when I wasn't playing, like back and forth, like with the linemen and about. There were people saying like, I was supposed to, supposed to report they can and there was like talks of like, a whole bunch of rumors that necessarily didn't clear.

Like I never cleared the rumors. Like I always, I just kind of sat back and let everything happen. I feel like in 2018, I feel like I should have spoke up more.

I should have said more of my side about what's actually happening. And not just on football, but even like outside off the football field, 2018 was just like one of those years where I feel like a lot of things didn't go as I planned. But it helped me transpire to, you know, the person I am today and it moved forward, even in 2019 when I signed with the Jets. And when I came back to the field, I felt so rejuvenated, so good because I played football for a whole year. So I'm like, damn, like it feels good. Like I miss being back here on the field, like being with my teammates because that year off, I just, I felt it like, damn, like, you know, like that was like that first taste I got like when I don't have football.

What would I do if I didn't have football? You know, and that was like that first taste I got. And I needed that. I needed that year to help me understand and be the person I am today because everything, you know, that's when I was on top of the world.

Everybody's trying to look at the lady on the bed on top of the world. It's 2017, 2018, you know, the best running back, this, that and the other. And then, you know, after that happened, people were like, oh, he ain't been the same player, he ain't been this, he ain't been that. So it's more so me learning and then capturing all the, you know, all the moments that made me, made me, you know, sad or angry or irritated. And in the same retrospect, all the times where I'm happy and excited and I'm enjoying all those moments, using all that fuel for this fight and leading to this point. And I engage and I embrace all of it.

I know you got to run. Last one, LaVeon Bell, you said if you go back to 2018, you wish you could clear the air. What specifically would you like to clear up? Like, what is your version of the truth of what happened in 2018? I mean, I'm at peace with it. So I don't necessarily care about talking about the Steelers or none of that.

I'm not, I don't feel like getting into it. Like, it is what it happened, what, four years ago. So I don't necessarily care.

I would have did it in 2018. But it's now 2022, so I don't really care to talk about it. I'm at ease with it. I don't move past it. You know, the Steelers are doing what they're doing.

I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm cool on it. What do you think about what the Steelers are doing now with Kenny Pickett and Najee Harris?

Yeah, I'm going to be honest. I haven't watched no football this year, but I think Najee Harris's football was watching last year in Alabama or whatever. I think he's a good player. Like, I think he's one of those players who got a special dynamic to him. You know, it's a lot of things that he got that you can't actually teach him.

Him running off the basket and all that. So I think he's, you know, will be a good player for the Steelers for, you know, moving on. Well, make sure you buy the fight on Showtime, pay-per-view tickets still available at Ticketmaster.

Lavi on Bell, excited to see what you got this weekend against your Iowa Hall. Good luck. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Throughout the 60s and 70s. Download the free Odyssey app today. Finding the perfect suit can seem impossible, but finding one that's perfect for you is easy. With Indicino, choose your design and custom details. Then submit your measurements online or get measured in-store for a custom made-for-you fit at an incredible price. And shop their new fall collection for seasonal styles. Find your perfect suit with Indicino. Get $50 off any purchase of $399 or more with promo code FallUpdate at Indicino.com. That's I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O dot com promo code FallUpdate.