2. Yoel Romero
Yoel Romero has come under scrutiny not only for being a jacked looking dude in his 40s that fails drug tests for tainted supplements, but also for being one of the dirtiest fighters going.
First let’s start with “Stool Gate”.
The complaint is that John McCarthy should have deducted a point or outright ruled Romero unable to continue after he remained on his stool when the round was ready to begin.
Yoel’s opponent that night, Tim Kennedy, had rocked Romero badly in the 2nd round and evidently someone in Romero’s camp, or Romero himself, decided the “Soldier of God” could use a little more stool time.
So Romero’s corner cleared out of the cage and left the stool underneath Romero. Romero of course, was not used to not having a stool taken away from him at the end of a break between rounds and he simply didn’t know what to do.
Big John walked over to his corner, and rudely Romero didn’t even get off the stool to greet him. Finally the stool was removed from out underneath Romero and he was able to continue. Then a much more refreshed Romero knocked Kennedy out less than a minute into the 3rd.
Tim Kennedy has literally gone to war since this fight took place. He has sat in the middle of a war zone, his life in danger, the lives of those around him in danger, and you know that all he can think about was Yoel Romero not getting off his goddamn stool.
Romero’s next fight was a decision victory over Jacare Souza, who would later complain about dirty tactics from Yoel.
“Romero played dirty. If you look at the footage, he held the fence twice to avoid the takedown sequence in the 2nd round, and poked my eyes in the 3rd.” Jacare said.
Romero would have been in a position for a possible middleweight title shot after the win over Jacare, but he failed a drug test and was initially suspended for 2 years.
After being able to prove the failed test was due to a tainted supplement, the suspension was reduced to 6 months.
