Durazo’s International Journey to the PBR’s Highest-Level

OKLAHOMA CITY – Edgar Durazo still cherishes those October and December nights growing up in Moctezuma, Mexico, when he and his father, Felipe, would sit down and watch the PBR World Finals and National Finals Rodeo.

Edgar would intently watch highlights of Donnie Gay, Cody Custer, and Michael Gaffney do battle in the arena against 2,000-pound animal athletes like he had never seen before. Felipe would point out things for his son to keep an eye on.

While he dreamed of one day being like the legends he saw on the television screen, his true passion for bull riding stemmed from another bull rider.

His father.

“As a kid, you always wanted to be like your dad,” Edgar said last year in an interview prior to the Global Cup. “Since I can remember, I wanted to be a bull rider. We watched the National Finals every year at home. My dad rode bulls. I wanted to be like my dad.”

The inaugural PBR Global Cup was something that was not on Durazo’s radar when he as that young boy growing up 2 hours south of the United States border, but Durazo knew his father would have been proud after he went 2-for-4 at the Global Cup for Team Mexico with rides aboard Smiling Bob (85.25 points) and South Texas Gangster (86.25 points).

 
Felipe passed away in the summer of 2016 from cancer.

“I am pretty sure he is pretty proud,” Durazo said. “My family is my support. I have a lot of family, friends and a lot of people down in our country supporting me.”

That support will ratchet up to another level when Durazo makes his 25^thPBR: Unleash The Beast career debut on Saturday night at the Express Employment Professionals Invitational.

Durazo earned a last-minute alternate spot after Jordan Hansen (back, shoulder) opted out of the event on Thursday.

The 26-year-old is coming off a 2-for-2, winning performance at the Portland, Oregon, Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour event last weekend where both of his qualified rides produced 88-point scores.

“Representing your own country is the best feeling,” Durazo said at the Global Cup. “It feels so good. I am just ready to go and it is good to be a part of this.”

He has drawn Royal Flush (0-0, PBR UTB) for Round 1.

Durazo has competed in 66 PBR events at all levels of competition since getting his PBR card in 2010, but 2018 is really his second full-time season at the lower levels. He finished 57^th in the 2017 world standings after tying for the event win at the 2017 PBR Canada Finals.

His journey to the PBR began like most wanna-be cowboys, but the path Durazo took has involved three different countries over the last eight years.

Durazo was first getting on sheep as early as 3 years old on his family’s ranch. His grandfather raised beef cattle and sold them to the United States, while his uncle was a talented bronc rider in Mexico.

Durazo eventually attempted steers and then graduated to his first bull at 15 years old.

In 2010, Durazo earned a rodeo scholarship to Southwest Texas College in Uvalde, Texas, after winning multiple rodeos in Mexico. That same year he made his PBR debut at a San Antonio Touring Pro Division event.

Durazo then returned to Mexico for a year before a friend convinced him to try rodeoing in Canada seeing as he was struggling to get proper documentation to ride in the United States.

“When I was younger, I was just traveling from Mexico to the U.S. and everything was good until they said you have to switch your visas and the papers and stuff,” Durazo said. “(The government) slow you down. Canada makes it easier, and I have my visas, and I keep going, but that was one of the hardest parts. With all of the big shows and big competitions (in the United States), it sure is easier and you get here and (PBR) make it easier for you.”

Durazo found a ranch to work on in Canada training horses and shoeing calves and continue his rodeo career.

He competed in various rodeos and bull ridings throughout the Calgary region and won the 2014 World Professional Bull Riding Championship in Canada.

“I always wanted to try it and I started going to bull ridings out there. I like it. Then I got married and my wife liked the life up there.

He and his future wife, Karla, decided to stay in Canada and now live in High River, Alberta, which is about 45 minutes south of Calgary.

Now he is focused on taking the next step in his career and make his childhood dream of competing in the PBR full time a reality.

“I have always said I want to be there one day,” Durazo said. “I want to be at the top level. I am working on it.”

Durazo is currently 24^th in the PBR world standings and he would be Rookie of the Year eligible if he can earn a seeded spot on The 25^th PBR: Unleash The Beast.

He said last year that you never know when his time would come.

“Anything can happen,” Durazo concluded. “Anybody can win. We are all there for the same thing. We are all there for the same thing. We are all there to have fun and ride bulls and do our best. We are all prepared to ride any bulls and anybody can win.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko