PUEBLO, Colo. – Two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney has seemingly never stopped battling through various injuries during his 14-year career, so it is not a surprise that the 32-year-old now expects to ride with a broken left leg.
Mauney told PBR.com on Tuesday morning that X-rays at Davis Regional Medical Center in Statesville, North Carolina, confirmed he has broken his fibula.
However, Mauney says that it will not stop him from competing at the upcoming Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo on Wednesday and Thursday night before heading to Oklahoma City for the PBR’s Unleash The Beast Express Ranches Invitational.
“I will be at all of them,” Mauney said confidently. “Besides the fact that it is going to hurt like hell, it should be alright.”
Mauney said he would meet with Dr. Tandy Freeman in Fort Worth on Wednesday so that Freeman can review the X-ray and partially cast Mauney’s leg.
The 13-time PBR World Finalist added that he and Freeman discussed the possibility of casting his leg in Fort Worth after Freeman told Mauney in Sacramento, California, Sunday that he likely broke his leg when Hou’s Bad News stomped on him following his 88-point ride.
“I will take the X-rays to him at the rodeo in Fort Worth,” Mauney said. “I asked him before I left Sacramento if he will have stuff to cast it and he said, ‘Yeah.’
“It won’t go all the way around the leg. It will be like a half cast with a bunch of padding on the edge and then I will tape it to my leg.”
Mauney, who is the alternate rider for the Team USA Eagles for the upcoming Global Cup in Arlington, Texas, said he was informed that he broke his fibula, which is the long, thin outside bone of the lower leg, while at the hospital early Tuesday morning.
He decided to get the X-rays done around 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday after his newborn son, Jagger Briggs, was headed back to sleep.
“I woke up at about midnight and he finished feeding so I said, ‘Shit. I should go into the hospital now when nobody is here.’ I got there about 1:30 and I said, ‘Look, I just need the X-rays. Give me the disc and I will be out of y’all’s hair.
“They showed me the X-ray. It wasn’t completely broke in two, but it was pretty close. (The fracture) is probably about 3 or 4 inches below the knee.”
Mauney is 4-for-10 this season through four UTB events and is No. 56 in the world standings.
He had just posted his best ride of the season before Hou's Bad News ran him down from behind as he tried to escape to safety.
According to Mauney, he has previously broken his right leg and was able to ride with a cast for three to four weeks.
Mauney has been most recently riding with a right wrist injury and has overcome a laundry list of injuries in his career.
He battled back from career-threatening right shoulder surgery in 2017 and then a broken back and torn groin last season.
None of those injuries has prevented Mauney from qualifying for the PBR World Finals.
In fact, no injury has ever stopped Mauney from qualifying to ride at the PBR’s season-ending marquee event.
Mauney leads all active riders with 13 consecutive World Finals qualifications.
In 2015, Mauney, who also tore his right MCL in 2010, won his second World Championship despite missing five events because of a torn left ACL. He was able to overcome a 1,662.5-point deficit
Are all the injuries getting old?
“It is part of bull riding,” Mauney concluded.
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko