LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – There’s a storm brewing over Little Rock as the PBR Bad Boy Mowdown gets set to be the main attraction this weekend at Verizon Arena. That storm has two-time world champion, J.B. Mauney at its epicenter.
Back around January 26, Mauney snatched his gear bag from the floor of the delivery room after holding Jagger Briggs Mauney, his newborn son, for the first time and jumped a jet to Sacramento, California. After making his season’s best ride of 88 points on Bridwell Pro Rodeo’s Hou’s Bad News, he came off clean but was run down by the bull, suffering a broken fibula and sustaining extensive soft tissue damage.
Cowboy up. J.B. Mauney rode for a season-best of 88 points before Hou's Bad News ran him down from behind and broke his fibula. But that can't stop the dragonslayer, he is slated to come back and compete in Little Rock this weekend.
Posted by PBR on Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Since then, the North Carolina native bull rider has made unsuccessful attempts to ride with the injury but has been working relentlessly on rehab and has about 90 degree flexion in the knee going into both The American semi-finals and the Bad Boy Mowdown. He’s been on his old school drop barrel to practice and feels like he’s ready enough.
“Depending on how I do, I’ll rent a car and drive between Fort Worth and Little Rock,” said Mauney. Let’s hope that rental is equipped with long lasting, tough Cooper Tires because that road between the two venues is a rough one.
2019 goals for 32 year-old Mauney include championship runs at the PBR and World Champion Cowboys Association (WCRA). With career earnings at $7.3 million dollars, Mauney says the WRCA opportunity is a rich one for all rodeo contestants and can’t be ignored.
Seven other riders face being dropped from the Unleash The Beast Tour depending on the outcome in Arkansas. Koal Livingston, Emilio Resende, Alex Marcilio, Stetson Lawrence, Keyshawn Whitehorse, Ramon de Lima and Eduardo are all riding for their competitive lives at the Bad Boy Mowdown.