Former NFL running back Adrian Peterson got into a fight with a man over a poker game earlier this summer, and now he’s cashing in on the skirmish. Peterson has signed a Celebrity Boxing contract, according to TMZ Sports, with his first fight coming against Joe “Baby Joe” Castaneda, the person at the center of the May brawl at JokerStars in Houston.
“Me and the guy, we’re cool,” Peterson told TMZ at the time. “We’ve known each other. It was literally like a brother situation. We agreed to disagree, we had our words, and we threw blows — and that was it.”
No charges were filed and police were not involved. Video of the incident showed Peterson emerge with a bloody face, but he said the cut came from hitting a chair during the melee.
The 40-year-old Peterson lost his only other boxing match after he was knocked out in 2022 by former NFL running back Le’Veon Bell.
Facing financial and legal problems, Peterson was ordered by a judge in September 2024 to turn over various assets to help pay back debt worth $12.5 million. And following the NFL Draft in April, Peterson was arrested for DWI hours after leaving a party hosted by the Minnesota Vikings.
The Celebrity Boxing bout with Castaneda may help settle part of the debt owed by the former All-Pro after taking out a loan from a Pennsylvania lending company back in 2016 that was intended to pay off other lenders, per court records obtained by USA Today.
The NFL’s Rookie of the Year out of Oklahoma in 2007, Peterson rushed for 14,918 and 120 touchdowns over his 15-year career. He played his first 10 seasons in Minnesota before brief stints in New Orleans, Washington, Arizona, Detroit, Tennessee and Seattle.
The four-time first-team All-Pro is undoubtedly a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. During Peterson’s MVP 2012 campaign, he became the seventh player in NFL history to run for more than 2,000 yards (2,097). He led the NFL in rushing yards two other times (2008, 2015).
In 2023, Peterson attempted an NFL comeback but was not signed. His quest to push past Barry Sanders on the NFL’s all-time rushing list into the No. 4 spot all-time was unsuccessful and just 352 yards short.
Toward the end of his career, Peterson said he still felt like he could eclipse Emmitt Smith’s all-time NFL rushing mark of 18,355 yards.
“You see why it’s been there for such a long time,” Peterson said. “I feel like I had the great opportunity to do it. Unfortunately, I experienced some hiccups throughout my career, injuries and things like that, just wasn’t able to get there. So I think it’ll stand for a long time. Maybe eventually someone will break it, but when you look at how the NFL is going now, it might not happen. How things are going in the NFL, it’s gonna be hard for someone to really break a record.
“But I can tell you this: there’s no other person to be holding that spot. Emmitt is a great guy. He inspired so many people, me growing up, being a Cowboys fan. So I got so much love for him.”
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Author: Brad Crawford
July 12, 2025 | 10:45 am
