PUEBLO, Colo. – Two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney has been growing impatient and stir crazy at home as he continues to try to get his left knee good enough to ride again.
Mauney broke his left fibula on Jan. 27 after Hou’s Bad News ran him over, stepping on his lower left leg in the process, following Mauney’s season-best 88-point ride.
At the time, Mauney believed he would be able to ride through the broken leg.
Things did not go so well for him, though, when he failed to reach the 8-second mark at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo and the Oklahoma City Unleash The Beast event the following week.
Those two events only made things worse for the future Ring of Honor inductee with the swelling getting so bad that he was unable to bend his knee.
Mauney had hoped a week or two off would do the trick, but instead it has taken over three weeks for Mauney to have his knee bend enough to the point where he is ready to ride again.
The 32-year-old confirmed on Tuesday that he is “good enough” to ride at the Bad Boy Mowdown in North Little Rock, Arkansas, on Friday night (RidePass at 8:30 p.m. ET).
Mauney underwent an MRI in the middle of February to make sure there was no significant damage in his knee/quad.
According to Mauney, Dr. Tandy Freeman informed him that he had aggravated his previously torn left ACL, which he had torn in 2015, and he once again had torn his MCL off the bone. There was also serious swelling and bruising around his knee.
“The ACL was tore like it was before and I ripped the MCL off the bone again,” Mauney said. “The swelling in my knee, he said the reason I am not getting the movement back in it so quick is when I broke the fibula, I bruised the tibula and the femur too.
“There is a lot of shit going on in there. It is taking it a little longer for it to calm down I guess.”
Mauney is first set to compete Thursday at RFD-TV’s THE AMERICAN SEMI-FINALS in Fort Worth, Texas.
The 13-time PBR World Finalist is trying to qualify for the Saturday SEMI-FINALS short round in Arlington, Texas, so that he can compete Sunday at THE AMERICAN for a chance at his share of $1 million.
Sixteen riders advance out of the first three SEMI-FINALS performances on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to compete on Saturday.
The Top 5 riders on two head then advance to THE AMERICAN on Sunday to compete alongside the Top 5 bull riders from the 2018 PBR and PRCA standings.
The five bull riding qualifiers from the Semi-Finals will be eligible to win a share of the $1 million bonus that is offered to any qualifier who potentially wins one of the seven rodeo events – bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, team roping, tie-down roping, barrel racing, steer wrestling and bull riding.
“I will get myself a rental car and drive to Little Rock, ride Friday night, and then depending on how I do Thursday night, drive back to Arlington Saturday and ride Sunday,” Mauney said.
The PBR is excusing any of its riders that qualify for the Saturday night performance in Arlington to withdraw from Little Rock on Saturday night with no consequence. The league does not want to prevent any of its riders from chasing an opportunity for $1 million.
All riders that are qualified for Little Rock must still ride in Round 1 on Friday night.
Mauney has been struggling to stay healthy for the past two seasons, but he is determined to not only qualify for his 14th PBR World Finals in November, but he also has been nominating himself for the WCRA Titletown Stampede in Green Bay on June 1.
The $1 million rodeo occurs in between the PBR’s Unleash the Beast event taking place inside Green Bay’s Resch Center on May 31 and June 2.
Mauney – the richest bull rider in history ($7.3 million) -- said there is no better time to be a bull rider.
“The money is getting better, and it will continue to get better as much as I think,” Mauney said. “Right now for a whole, any Western athlete, it is the best it has ever been with all the different things going on right now. For any Western athlete, the money is the best it has ever been right now. Anybody can go to the WCRA. Like the WCRA, there you ride two bulls and win $75,000. There is nowhere you can go really and win $75,000 like (Derek Kolbaba) did (in Chicago).”
Mauney is 4-for-12 (33.33 percent) in five events and is ranked 67th in the world standings.
He is confident he can bounce back from his left knee injury.
Mauney was able to miss five events in 2015 because of a torn ACL and still win his second World Championship.
The North Carolina cowboy has been using laser therapy on his knee to try to get as healthy as possible.
“I will laser it as many times a day that I can,” he said. “I will put it on certain spots at my knee for five minutes at a time and I just keep moving it around. Put heat on it. Start bending the son of a gun as much as I can to where I can get the movement back into it.”
Mauney said last Wednesday that he was already feeling a difference.
“Hell, I did it twice for 15 minutes a piece, and I come out here, and I have a sleeve on it to keep the swelling down, and I freaking strapped my knee brace on my jeans and I got on the drop barrel and rode,” Mauney said.
“It ain’t bending as far as I want it to yet, but from where I was at the other day I am almost at 90 degrees now.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
