PUEBLO, Colo. – Two years ago, Dener Barbosa had a bag of ice wrapped around his right foot, and was trying to work his way through the exit door of Infinite Energy Arena with the help of a set of crutches.
Barbosa was the No. 3-ranked bull rider in the world then, and he was off to the best start of his career. He was leading the PBR in qualified rides (19) and riding percentage (67.86%), and appeared set to make a run at the PBR’s $1 million championship.
Now, of course, two-time World Champion Jess Lockwood and current world No. 1 Jose Vitor Leme have made the 60-plus riding percentage seem more possible in the last two seasons, but the reality is it takes an elite bull rider to post those kind of numbers consistently on the PBR’s rank Unleash The Beast.
Barbosa’s 2018 title aspirations never resumed, though.
He had to undergo surgery to repair three broken bones in his foot, and he would not return to premier series competition for five months, dropping to No. 10 in the world standings. Barbosa would finish 2018 15th in the world standings, and never reentered the world title race.
Fast forward to this year, and the 2016 PBR Brazil champion left Duluth, Georgia, this past weekend in a much different scenario.
Barbosa won the non-public Gwinnett Invitational by going a perfect 3-for-3 to put himself back into the 2020 world title race as the No. 6 bull rider. He trails world leader Leme by 292.5 world points.
Does Barbosa ever wonder, though, what could have been during the 2018 season? What if he never broke his foot in Duluth?
“It is hard to say,” Barbosa said Sunday night with the help of Paulo Crimber translating as the two sat inside Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. “Even back then, it was the start of the year, and I was riding really good, and I was sitting really good. I would have probably gone into the World Finals in good shape.”
Barbosa did not want to go out and claim he could have won the world title that year, and realistically the past is the past.
The fourth-year pro wants to look forward and not dwell on the past. There is also another major difference between this season and 2018: Barbosa’s right shoulder is no longer unstable. Dr. Tandy Freeman surgically repaired Barbosa’s shoulder following the 2018 season, and he had to miss the first half of last year recovering from it. The surgery, which involved taking a piece of bone from Barbosa’s hip and placing in in his shoulder, was Barbosa’s second since he underwent a procedure in 2013 in Brazil.
“I think so,” Barbosa replied when asked if he feels like he is actually in a better position to contend in 2020. “Back then my shoulder was an issue, too, and I have since had surgery, so this is an advantage for me.”
The 25-year-old, though, is slowly starting to ride like the cowboy that arrived in the United States in 2016 with high expectations.
Barbosa is 14-for-23 (60.87%) this season, and has ridden eight of his last 10 bulls.
He won Duluth with a 91-point ride on Bullseye – the first 90-point ride of his career – in the championship round.
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“What an outstanding bull, and what an outstanding ride,” 2002 World Finals event winner J.W. Hart said on the CBS Sports Network broadcast. “He just sits in the middle, and he never gets ahead of him. He keeps packing him around there. The bull stretches out there towards the end. Excellent bull ride by Dener Barbosa.”
Barbosa’s surprising decision to not select Big Black with the first pick of the championship round draft did not come back to haunt him.
“Jose (Vitor Leme) was 92 on him in Oklahoma City, that was the reason why I picked him over Big Black,” Barbosa said. “I thought with his style I wouldn’t be as high of a score like everybody else. Bullseye was a good bull, and I knew I could be 90 on him. That bull is really great. (Claudio) Montanha was right behind me by 0.75 points, and I knew I needed to get at least 90 on the board to secure that first place spot, and that bull is kind of really nice. I saw him before, and I thought I could match him jump for jump.”
As a result of decisions made by local authorities, the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, Georgia, set to host the PBR’s 2020 Gwinnett Invitational, was not open to public gathering last weekend. With no fans in the building, a skeleton crew producing the event, and necessary safety precautions taken for health and safety of the participants and crew, PBR brought the Unleash The Beast series’ Gwinnett Invitational to fans live on CBS Sports Network and RidePass, the Western sports digital network.
Barbosa admitted it was a different setting with no fans in attendance. It felt more like a rich practice pen than an Unleash The Beast event.
“The riders didn’t feel all that pressure, and all that kind of stuff,” Barbosa said. “It was more relaxed. You could hear each other cheering for each other. You could hear the bulls bucking and stuff. It was like a practice pen with the fancy money on the line, and all that good stuff.”
Barbosa said he did not forget the role that all of the PBR cowboys had in providing fans a distraction. For a few hours, sports fans had something else to talk about during a time of crisis across the world.
“It is just amazing to be able to have opportunity to give a distraction for people at home going through this real tough time as it is right now,” Barbosa concluded. “There was nothing else going on TV sport-wise, and for us to provide that for the public and the fans was amazing.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko