Bo Nickal Responds to Fan Backlash Over Yoel Romero Situation: “This isn’t all fun and games. This is not a charity match.”
Bo Nickal is tired of hearing people complain about his scrapped clash with Yoel Romero.
The former Nittany Lion was scheduled to square off with Romero at the Real American Freestyle event on January 10 in Sunrise, Florida. Unfortunately, the unified light heavyweight title clash never came to fruition after Romero missed weight by a whopping seven pounds.
Instead of accepting a catchweight contest with Romero, Nickal packed up his boots and went home, much to the chagrin of wrestling fans who were excited to see the two generational talents go toe-to-toe on the mat.
“It was a tough situation,” Nickal said of the scrapped scrap during recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show. “I got into Florida, had all my family and friends down, a lot of people, and was looking forward to competing. Saturday morning at weigh‑ins, I weighed in right at 9 a.m. I woke up around 203, ate and drank to get up to 205, and then waited about 45 minutes for Yoel to get to weigh in. Once he didn’t step on the scale right away, I kind of knew maybe he was over. I expected two, three, four pounds, and no worries, we’ll get it going. But he stepped on at 212. Seven pounds over.
“I obviously wanted to compete, but I spoke with my coaches and my team, and we felt it was best to move on because part of wrestling is making weight. That’s just something you grow up doing, and it’s part of the sport. In any other tournament, it’s not like, ‘Oh, you don’t make weight, you still get to compete.’ That’s not wrestling. I signed a contract at this weight, that’s what I expect. If he was two, three, four pounds over, we could probably make it work, but that was a lot to accept, so as a team we felt it was best not take the match.”
Nickal also addressed the criticism he’s received by not opting to go forward with the match.
“People don’t understand this isn’t all fun and games,” Nickal continued. “This is not a charity match. This is a professional sporting event. I came in professional, and unfortunately, like I said, he didn’t. If he made the weight, we’re going, obviously, so that’s not on me.
“The reality is he’s a heavyweight. He’s probably should just be competing at heavyweight. I’d love to train with the guy and get some work in, but as far as a match, I think I’m done because I don’t think he can make the weight.”
It’s not the first time Nickal vs. Romero fell through. The two were scheduled to square off at RAF 4 in December, but Nickal bowed out. The ‘Soldier of God’ went on to scorea technical fall against replacement opponent Patrick Downey.
