Le'Veon Bell's football career is over -- at least for now -- the NFL star says he won't play this season ... and it's all 'cause he wants to now focus on his boxing career.
The running back made the announcement just minutes ago at a promotional event for his upcoming fight with Adrian Peterson -- revealing he's going to try to take this year to begin his formal transition from football player to full-time fighter.
"Last year, I almost sat out the whole year to try to focus on boxing, because I kind of knew that's what I wanted to transition to," Bell said.