15/15 Draw: Davis gets Catfish John and is No Stranger to Late-Season Sallies

By: Justin Felisko
September 18, 2018

PUEBLO, Colo. – The deficit is almost two times larger, but 2016 World Champion Cooper Davis is confident he can go on another late-season rally for the 2018 World Championship.

Davis overcame an 875.33-point deficit with three regular-season events and the World Finals remaining to win the world title two years ago, and that history serves as a reminder that Davis has the pedigree for late-season heroics.

The 24-year-old is coming off a sensational second-place finish at the Atlantic City Invitational where he rode Smooth Operator for a career-best 93.75 points to get himself back in the title race.

Davis picked up 355 world points and heads into this weekend’s U.S. Border Patrol Invitational in Fairfax, Virginia, 1,430 points behind world leader Kaique Pacheco.

There are five regular-season events remaining until the 2018 PBR World Finals on Nov. 7-11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“The game never changes,” Davis said. “Right now it is a long ways away, still even to Vegas. 1,700 points is a lot for me to overcome, but if I get on a hot streak and I go win them like I did that year. It all went right. I could be 500 points behind and make that up at the Finals. It is pretty simple math if you put it that way.”

Davis used a second-place finish in Nampa, Idaho, and then swept the San Jose Invitational and 15/15 Bucking Battle to take over the world No. 1 ranking heading into the regular-season finale in Tucson, Arizona.

However, Pacheco then regained the world lead with a second-place finish in Tucson.

The two riders were separated by only 222.83 points heading into the 2016 World Finals.

“It got easier then because once you go ride three or four in a row, it is kind of getting into a groove,” Davis recalled. “You feel like everything is back to the way it should be.”

Davis eventually surged past Pacheco on the final day of the Finals by riding Catfish John for 91 points, eventually winning the world title once Pacheco was bucked off by Slinger Jr. in the championship round.

The Jasper, Texas, bull rider gets another crack at Catfish John on Saturday night during the 15/15 Bucking Battle in Fairfax, Virginia.

15/15 Bucking Battle Matchups
Keyshawn Whitehorse vs. The Hard Stuff (7-2, PBR UTB)
Dakota Buttar vs. Millennium’s Buck (3-1, PBR UTB)
Derek Kolbaba vs. Old Fort Days (7-0, PBR UTB)
Ryan Dirteater vs. Hydrastar Slinger Jr. (41-4, PBR UTB)
Dener Barbosa vs. Slingin Tears (5-0, PBR UTB)
Fabiano Vieira vs. Chain Smoker (2-0, PBR UTB)
Eduardo Aparecido vs. Jaywalker (3-0, PBR UTB)*
Cody Teel vs. Magic Train (41-6, PBR UTB)*
Cooper Davis vs. Catfish John (31-13, PBR UTB)$
Luciano de Castro vs. Muscles & Shovels (6-0, PBR UTB)
Cody Nance vs. Dead Calm (10-6, PBR UTB)
Ramon de Lima vs. Losing My Religion (28-3, PBR UTB)
Jose Vitor Leme vs. Roman (6-1, PBR UTB)
Claudio Montanha Jr. vs. Budakon (6-1, PBR UTB)
Kaique Pacheco vs. Big Black (9-1, PBR UTB)
*Rematch
$Rider has successfully previously ridden the bull

Pacheco has drawn Big Black, who is coming off an impressive 46-point showing in Springfield, Missouri, for 7.31 seconds of work against two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney.

Davis holds a 4-1 advantage against Catfish John and averages 89.94 points per ride aboard Chad Berger’s bovine athlete.

 
Catfish John barely won the last matchup with a 7.32-second buckoff against Davis in Tacoma, Washington.

Davis previously rode the bull for 91.25 points to win the Chicago Invitational in January to become the No. 1 bull rider in the world.

Unfortunately, for Davis, he injured the ring finger on his riding hand earlier in Chicago during his 83.5-point ride on Uncle Tink.

The injury gave Davis fits throughout the first half and caused him to miss four events.

Davis feels like he has yet to truly go on a consistent run this year.

“That is something that really hasn’t happened yet this year,” Davis said. “When things were right, I ended up messing up my hand in Chicago and that is when I was riding my best. So I kind of went from riding great to crap right away.”

Davis is 18-for-58 (31.03 percent) with the lone win, three 90-point rides and five Top-5 finishes.

The 31-percent riding average is the lowest of his career, but Davis knows he can still possibly turn things around.

“It is disheartening because I had a plan to come in here with a 3,000-point lead into the break,” Davis said. “That is disheartening, where I am right now. As bad of a season that I have had, I still have a chance. That speaks to me, if I do get on a roll, how good it can be.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

© 2018 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.