Monday, May 26, 2014

David Liceaga

David Liceaga has been dead for several years now, but he survived the bullring, lived a long life and passed form natural causes in the 1990s.

Before doing so, he and his brothers Eduardo and Mauricio founded a dynasty of bullfighters that  survives to this day.

From this family came Mauro Liceaga, Anselmo Liceaga, Eduardo Liceaga II, Lalo Liceaga, David Liceaga hijo  and others.

The fmaily name live son.

David was known especially for his work with the capote and for his placing of the banderillas, though he was excellent in all phases of  the bullfight.

He may be seen as the bullfighter in  the Disney film, The Littlest Outlaw, curiously enough, in some brief bullfighting footage there.

Though he  toured the world at the time he was in  his prime, Liceaga's greatest showing came within Mexico City, where he registered a number of triumphs.


Miguel Freg

Much has been said about the two men killed in Mexico last week. Yet history is full of many toreros who gave their lives for the art, but have faded from memory.

One such man would be the late Miguel Freg.

Freg went to Spain with the intent of advancing his career as a novillero and afterwards hoping to take the alternativa back in Mexico.

Things did not work as he hoped.

When he placed the sword in his bull in an all-important Madrid presentation, he was tossed and as he hit the sand, the bull caught him again, goring him in the neck.

The injured torero managed to rise to his feet with his hands on  his throat, take a few faltered steps and collapse.

The banderilleros rushed him to the infirmary where hasty attempts were made to stop the blood flow, but the wound was too extensive. He died a few minutes after being removed from  the ring.

Sadly, his death had repercussions as when she received word of his passing, the novillero's girlfriend shot herself.

Miguel Freg was the brother of Luis Freg, a matador who received  over 50 gorings in his career, yet died in a boating accident.


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Novillero Killed

Yucatan is clearly becoming a bad luck spot for toreros and the trend has continued. This weekend the novillero  Luis Miguel Farfan was killed when he received an intestinal horn wound  during the faena in one of the pueblos of this province.

The badly injured torero was taken to Merida and died in the hospital there.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Forcado Killed

In one of the pueblos of Campeche, Mexico, the captain of a forcado team was killed by a bull on May  18.

Eduardo Del Villar died from a  massive wound in the left leg that damaged the femoral artery

Not much other information just yet.

The forcado was only 26. 

The goring may already be seen posted on You Tube.

QEPD forcado


A Bloody San Isidro

It has happened before, but rarely and most likely will happen again. A bullfight in Madrid was suspended when all three toreros, David Mora, Jimenez and Antonio Nazare were gored.




Friday, May 16, 2014

Intestinal Gorings

Intestinal gorings were once the dread of bullring surgeons, at least until advent of penicillin, as the peritonitis that would set in proved fatal to many.

Joselito, Angel Castejon, Casarubbios, El Zorro, Joaquin Camino, Gavira, Malla  and several others died from wounds of this nature. Especially before modern medical techniques were available, a wound of this nature could spell disaster.

Such was not  always the case, again thanks to the advent of penicillin.

Arturo Ruiz Loredo, Antonio Lomelin, Fernando Cruz, Benjamin Lopez Esqueda, Chilolin, Raul Galindo, Rodolfo Palafox  and Benjamin Morales all took serious intestinal horn wounds that would have proved fatal further back in history, but returned to the bulls as good as new.

No wonder outside the bullring in Madrid, there is a monument to Dr. Fleming, who discovered penicillin.


Wednesday, May 14, 2014

New Fernando Dos Santos Book Coming

On Lulu Publishing in late 2014 will be a new book in English on the Portuguese matador, Fernando Dos Santos, titled Fernando Dos Santos In Mexico.

The Book will focus on Dos Santos and his Mexican campaign of 1968-1972, with accounts of several of his corridas in Nogales, Tijuana and Juarez, as well as the confirmation of his alternativa in Mexico City.

Nogales was the scene of many spectacular triumphs for this matador, who won the Gold Ear trophy in 1972 and before that, in 1970, gave an absolutory historic faena to Gaditano of Heriberto Rodriguez that received an indulto.

In 1969, Dos Santos also took a goring in the neck in this bullring, in a corrida alongside Antonio Lomelin. Luckily, the horn missed the jugular by fractions.

During his Mexican stay, Dos Santos was a regular on cards with Jesus Solórzano, who was his direct opposite in style and physical appearance. Others he alternated with in various plazas include Joel Tellez "El Silverio", Mauro Liceaga, Curro Rivera, Mariano Ramos, Guillermo Montes Sortibran and more.

Dos Santos also had impressive showings in Tijuana. In 1970, he left on the shoulders of the crowd after a suicidal performance to a bull named Bien Amigo. That same season he cut three ears in one corrida in Juarez, though he was so late in getting to the ring at the start of the corrida, the plaza judge started the parade without him.

Upon his final return to Portugal, Dos Santos made many investments, become a  land owner, bull breeder,  empresario and manager. Oddly enough, he became more famous in business behind the scenes than in the ring.

On the sand, his bravery could never be disputed and the Mexican public embraced his style. He wa sometimes billed  as"The Wild Man From Portugal" which was a good way of describing him.

The book will attest to this.

Remembering Joselito Once More

May 16 marks the anniversary once again, of Jose Gomez (Gallito or Joselito) and his death in Talavera de La Reina in 1920.

Coming from a long family of bullfighters, he was not only regarded as the best of his bloodline, but also the bullfight itself.

Masterful in all phases of the bullfight, with capote, banderillas, muleta and sword, he was a torero of both tremendous valor and remarkable ability. A man who could dominate the most difficult of bulls and possessing a seemingly supernatural ability to understand them, propelled him to stardom.

Aside from several authors in his native Spain devoting tons of books to him and his memory, two clearly established American authors, Ernest Hemingway and Barnaby Conrad, praised him in their works.

The odd thing was, Joselito formed a long-lasting rivalry with Juan Belmonte, a torero of opposite style, appearance and capacity. Belmonte wa constantly gored, where Joselito was seldom even in trouble on the sand. The public halfway expected to hear news of Belmonte's death in the ring, when as irony would have it, Joselito was killed.

A brief lapse in judgment with a bull having visual defects, caused Joselito to take a wound in the intestines, which caused his demise.

He is buried in Sevilla's San Fernando cemetery. An elaborate monument marks his resting place.

The Dreaded Femoral

One of the most dreaded incidents in bullfighting traditionally comes when damage is done to the big femoral artery in the leg. Many toreros, even in relatively modern times, have died due to this artery being nicked, let alone severed. Blood loss is tremendous and the shock that follows alone may prove fatal.

"The femoral is just one artery and you can fix that if you catch it quickly," remarked the late horn wound specialist, Jimenez Guinea. "The real problem comes when you get a  wound in the cluster of arteries and veins in the groin."

Still, history is full of toreros killed by a wound of this nature. Jose Falcon, Manolete, Rafael Carbonell, Angel Soria, Paquirri, Jose Mata, Paco Pita, Joselillo and many others attest to this.

Others such as Canitas, Maletilla De Oro, Curro Ortega, Chavalo,  Rocky Moody and Tato either lost a leg or at least were so hampered by circulation problems, they were forced to retire from the trade

In the past few decades, the survival rate has been much better. Jose Tomas, Marcel Herce, Arturo Magana, Antonio Rojas, El Soldado, Manolo Dos Santos, Pepe Luis Vargas and Curro Sierra all received wounds had damaged the femoral in one way or another, but lived.

Still, nothing draws more concern from the press the aficion or most medics than to have a man carried into the infirmary with a goring of this nature.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Recalling A Pointless Goring

Tijuana has seen many bad gorings over the decades in its varied rings and one death, when Chinanas was killed long ago. Other major gorings  include those to Fabian Ruiz, Chilolo, Adrian Romero, Sidney Franklin, Antonio Lomelin, Curro Vazquez,  Miguel "Armillita" and Alberto Ortiz, just to name a few.

One of the worst and most needless of gorings came in September of 1971, when Arturo Ruiz Loredo was on a card with Cordobes and working hard to impress the public of his own  worth.

As  he summed up his faena, which consisted of far more nerve than art, he did an adorno, performing the telefono, where he rested his elbow on the bull's head.

Then, as he completed the adornment, he arose and started to walk away, when he accidentally bumped the bull on the muzzle with his arm.

The indignant toro charged and gored him  at short range, catch him in the intestines with  a wound remarkably like the one that killed Joselito in Spain  in 1920.

Had the goring taken place  in  the 1920s and not 1971, Loredo would have joined the famed Joselito on the black chronicle of bullring fatalities for sure. While his condition was muy  grave for a while, he did recover, though he missed bookings in Nogales and other places in the meantime. The Portuguese, fernando Dos santos, filled in most of hsi adtes while he recovered from the severe wound.

The point is, as in many cases, carelessness  nearly caused the torero to lose his life.


Osuna, Spain

Two big corridas for part of the annual Osuna fair on May 17 and 18.

First, a corrida de rejones with Bohorquez, Pablo Hemroso and Manolo Moreno.

Second, a corrida with Castella, Ponce and Javier Jimenez.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Diego Silveti In Madrid

David Silveti did not duplicate his triumph from last year in this year's presentation of San Isidro, but still had some moments of great ability. The manso bulls provided few times of opportunity for Silveti or his Spanish alternates.

With his first bull, Silveti heard oles for various muletazos, but killed badly with three pinchazos and two descabello jabs.

Silveti tried to save the day with the last bull of the afternoon, especially during the faena, to the point where he took a hard tossing and was nearly gored. After returning to the offending  animal, he delivered manoletinas and went in to kill. Unfortunately, he missed with the sword again and was limited to applause.


Sunday, May 4, 2014

El Rubi

Manuel Medina "El Rubi" has long been a favorite of the South American bullrings and especially Venezuela,  which is his native  land. Especially known for graceful work with the capote, he has long been recognized as one of the most charismatic toreros from  his country.

Aside from fighting the bulls himself and promoting varied corridas as empresario, Rubi has added a new element to his life in the ruedo.

He has become a ganadero, raising bulls to be used in the ring.

One wishes him luck in his endeavour.




Friday, May 2, 2014

Diego Silveti In Sevilla

Diego Silveti endured tough bulls and an expectant public during his presentation during the Feria De Abril this month in Sevilla, Spain.

With his two bulls, he excelled with the capote in opening veronicas and quites. With the muleta he managed to extract two solid faenas, but his bulls were slow in dying and as such he cut no ears.

Keep in mind that Sevilla is regarded as one of the toughest plazas in the world to triumph within and a performance that merits applause would probably gain ears in the smaller rings.

Thus, Silveti's 's receiving palms and a salute to the audience may well be considered a minor triumph before an extremely tough crowd.

His associates, two Spanish matadores, were also applauded but did not cut ears either.