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Increasingly Desperate Adrian Peterson Taking His Bar Fight to the Boxing Ring
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- Increasingly Desperate Adrian Peterson Taking His Bar Fight to the Boxing Ring
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These days, when all-time great Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson makes headlines, they rarely portray him in a positive light. After rushing for just shy of 15,000 yards and 120 touchdowns during his 15-year NFL career, AP's life has been on the downhill slope both on and off the field.
Let's start by noting that, while Peterson hasn't played an NFL game since the 2021 season, he has yet to retire, meaning he's still as eligible as any other free agent remaining on the market, entering 2025 training camp. That fact tells you everything you need to know about where AP's mentals and financials are currently at.
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Remember Adrian Peterson's poker night brawl?
And that brings us to a couple of months ago, May 27, when a 40-year-old Adrian Peterson was playing cards at a Houston poker bar, called JokerStars. There, a disagreement between AP and another hyper athletic man at his table quickly escalated into a full-blown fist fight that the former Viking seemed to get the worst of.
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Former #NFL superstar #AdrianPeterson got into a fistfight with a poker player following a dispute over a hand … and #TMZSports has obtained video of the tussle. pic.twitter.com/WdhcZFHwBt
— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) June 19, 2025
After TMZ Sports finally got word of Peterson's bar room brawl out to the public, which was nearly a month after the fight actually took place, he blamed fans and the media for trying to make nothing into something, voicing frustration with how his off-field activities become magnified due to his celebrity status.
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Of course, anyone with any self-awareness would understand that any big name current or former pro sports star deals with the same kind of scrutiny that AP does, oftentimes even more. The one-time Minnesota Vikings superstar's biggest problem has been his inability to stay out of trouble and out of headlines.
Whether it be 2014 child abuse charges he pled no contest to, or things he's done since his playing career was forced into an end. Prior to joining the poker night fight club, AP was arrested under suspicion of DUI , after he attended the 2025 Minnesota Vikings draft party. Before that, he was cited for an altercation with a sports memorabilia collectors.
Former Minnesota Vikings star gets rematch fight
The list of headlines goes on. But no matter, because it appears Adrian Peterson is no longer mad at fans intrigued by off-field escapades, nor the media members who profit from them. Instead, AP is trying to make some money off of his mistakes this time around.
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On Friday, TMZ Sports broke the news that Peterson has signed up for a rematch against his card-playing enemy from JokerStars that May night in Houston. This time, however, the fight will be televised and both men will be wearing boxing gloves. The name on the fight card next to Peterson is Joe "Baby Joe" Castaneda.
Arian Peterson has officially signed a contract to fight his poker adversary in a boxing ring, @TMZ_Sports has learned.
Read more: https://t.co/rJOpc60Kv1 pic.twitter.com/XaZwyVbWBA— TMZ (@TMZ) July 10, 2025
Adrian Peterson will be throwing hands against his poker rival again soon … TMZ Sports has learned he's officially signed a contract to fight his adversary in a boxing ring!
The NFL legend put his John Hancock on a Celebrity Boxing contract Wednesday evening … and after Joe "Baby Joe" Castaneda inked his deal with the fight org. earlier this week — a sanctioned bout between the two is now incoming.
Related: Adrian Peterson Lands in Jail After Late Night of Vikings Draft Partying
Of course, this isn't the first time I've underestimated AP's financial problems, and I doubt it will be the last. At the end of the day, everybody needs money to live their life. That includes Adrian Peterson, who was over $12 million dollars in debt, a number revealed in court documents back in September, 2024.
Sure, AP made over $100 million during his NFL career, but the Minnesota Vikings all-time leading rusher blew most of those earnings before his football career was even over.
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Thus, Peterson has been searching for additional revenue streams since NFL teams stopped trying to sign him three years ago, including a 2023 run on Dancing with the Stars.
This isn't Adrian Peterson's first boxing rodeo
Not only is this Peterson's second fight against Joe "Baby Joe" Castaneda, but it's also AP's second time stepping into a boxing ring as a paid fighter. Back in 2022, he signed up to fight another former NFL running back, Le'Veon Bell.
Unfortunately, Peterson's boxing debut did not go well. Bell mostly dominated the first four rounds of the fight, before he knocked AP out in the 5th and final round.
Leveon Bell just knocked out Adrian Peterson to officially kick off the NFL season pic.twitter.com/f4GznfKskJ
— Dan Canobbio (@DanCanobbio) September 11, 2022
Without a doubt, I thought being KO'd by Le'Veon Bell meant the last time we would see Adrian Peterson step into a boxing ring with gloves and shorts on. But as mentioned earlier, I continue to underestimate just how desperate AP's money situation really is.
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