14 Mar, 2012 @ 22:18
1 min read

‘The Pirate’ returns to the bullring

HE is either very brave or very stupid.

Just five months after being horrifically gored in the ring and losing his left eye, Spanish matador Juan Jose Padilla has come back fighting.

Dubbed ‘The Pirate’ – a reference to his eye-patch – Padilla made a remarkable return to the ring this weekend for Olivenza’s annual festival.

The 38-year-old, who said he was returning ‘to win, to triumph and to be a better man,’ was greeted with loud cheers and enthusiastic handclapping from the crowd of 5,400 people.

Despite his impaired vision, meaning he cannot see the bull when it brushes past him on his left side, he succeeded in killing two bulls and was awarded an ear for each.

Padilla was then carried out on the shoulders of his fellow bullfighters, a very different scene from last October when he ran from the ring with his face gushing blood shouting ‘I can’t see.’

“It is like a dream come true, after some very hard months,” Padilla said. “I’m fully aware that nobody thought I would be back.”

Eloise Horsfield

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9 Comments

  1. Well to be a real Pirate he will need to lose an arm (hook) and a leg (wood) …. but I guess he will at least give it a try to become real …….. he already has the outfit.

  2. Hey Judith at least they didn’t make the bull wear tight Liberace style pants ….. and I am sure the bull had bigger “cojones” then the pansy Mama boy-pirate.

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