The Story of Yoel Romero

The Story of Yoel Romero
Troublesome life, uneasy labour, solid will, iron character, fighting among the high elite, the physical feature of humanity that close to the excellence and the love of million sport fans...Yes, all of those things are gathered in a man, Yoel Romero.

When you see his body structure, you ask yourself a question: İs he a wrestler or bodybuilder? Usually athletes avoid the muscles like Romero's. Because many athletes use the steroids for this body and it would be anti-doping violation. And Romero is one of the small number of athletes who made that body with constant exercises.Think about it: is it possible to imagine that the winner of the silver medal of the Olympic Games, the world champion, the winner of the World Cup has lived in poverty?

It is natural for them to answer to this question "No, it is impossible!" in most countries of the world. However, if you know that athlete lived in Cuba, you would begin to believe that stories about his poor life are true. Yoel Romero, the hero of today's story is one of the athletes who walked this way.

He was born on April 30, 1977 in Pinar del Rio, Cuba. Many people know that Cuba is one of the authorities countries in the world. Most of the population lives in poverty. Most of the sportsmen who took part in sports competitions have to live in poverty.
If Yoel Romero lived like most Cuban athletes, we would have heard about freestyle wrestler Romero in big competitions. However, he managed to find the strength to change everything. Thanks to his bravery, MMA fans have come to know a fighter who never backs down and gives his all in the Octagon. Romero was born into a family of fighters. Yoel’s parents did not become famous athletes, but his half-brother became widely known in the boxing community. Yoan Pablo Hernandez is the WBA interim heavyweight champion and former IBF champion.
“My father was a boxer and was considered one of the best boxers in Cuba. But he did not want me to do this sport and offered me a choice: either wrestling or judo. However, I have been boxing since I was a child. First with my father’s friends, then with my brother,” recalls the athlete himself. The athlete did not want to take his father’s surname and chose the surname Romero, which belonged to his mother. Yoel himself explained this decision by the fact that his father betrayed his mother many times.


It was his interest in boxing, the fact that he practiced this sport as much as possible, which was evident in his efforts in MMA. Yoel preferred to fight in a standing position rather than try to go to the parterre like most wrestlers do. Having given up his boxing dreams, Yoel began to seriously engage in freestyle wrestling. Also, as a teenager, he started going to the gym to build up his muscles. The first serious successes in wrestling came to Romero at the age of 20. He won the 1998 Pan American Championships and took a proud third place at the 1998 World Championships in Tehran.