Campbell Believes he Can Become Second Rider in PBR History to Win Back-to-Back World Finals Event Titles
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – Only one rider in PBR history has ever won back-to-back World Finals event average titles – this year’s Ring of Honor inductee Robson Palermo.
While there will be plenty of focus on reigning World Champion Jose Vitor Leme and his pursuit of joining Silvano Alves as the only men to win back-to-back World Championships, Boudreaux Campbell is confident he can also be a rider with a target on his back as he looks to make his own history at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Campbell did not even blink an eye when the topic of winning back-to-back World Finals event titles came up following his victory last weekend at the PBR Cooper Tires Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska.
“If I show up, I am showing up to win,” Campbell said. “I don’t think it is going to be very hard at all. If you stay on all of your bulls, then everything else will take care of itself. This sport is easy. It is a great time to be a bull rider, not a bull getter-on-er.”
The 2021 PBR World Finals begins in one week at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Only three riders have won multiple PBR World Finals event titles – Palermo (2012, 2011, 2008), two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney (2013, 2009) and 1998 World Champion Troy Dunn (1995 and 1997).
Last year, Campbell rose from talented underdog to 2020 World Finals event winner and Rookie of the Year by going 4-for-5 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The 23-year-old took another step forward in his development this season. Campbell, who is the only bull rider this season qualified for both the PBR Finals and the NFR, won three regular-season events in his first full PBR season with a 22-for-63 (34%) performance and heads to Las Vegas sitting No. 5 in the world standings.
While he is no longer in contention for the PBR World Championship, he knows there is still much to accomplish this season in a city he considers a second home in many ways.
The soon-to-be five-time NFR qualifier recently competed at the MGM Grand Garden earlier this year on the Unleash The Beast and at the South Point Arena & Equestrian Center last year for the Monster Energy Team Challenge.
Campbell is one of five riders ranked inside the Top 10 of the world standings tentatively expected to compete at the 2021 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals at the South Point on Saturday and Sunday. Top 10 riders also in the draw include No. 2 and 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco, No. 4 Joao Ricardo Vieira, No. 7 Mauricio Moreira and No. 9 and Rookie of the Year leader Junior Patrik Souza.
“I have been to Vegas so many times,” Campbell said. “I feel very comfortable there. I am ready to win. I am ready to go out there, and hopefully, everything works out. Just stay focused on the task at hand. You might fail here and there, and that is okay as long as you know when to pull the reins back on some stuff and let it go on the other things.”
However, Campbell admitted there will be some nerves competing inside T-Mobile Arena for the first time in his career come Nov. 3.
“I have never been in T-Mobile Arena,” Campbell said. “I am excited. My nerves are going to be running up there, and that is what I like. I like when I feel like all the pressure is on me at the time.”
Campbell won the final regular-season UTB event in Lincoln with a 91-point ride on Bubba G. He had gone into the championship-round draft leading the event after his 87.5-point ride on Reckless Red in Round 2, and he joked before the draft for someone to call two-time World Champion Justin McBride to help him make his selection.
He may not have actually called McBride, but Bubba G worked out perfectly as Campbell rode him for the victory and his sixth 90-point ride of 2021.
“I knew a couple bulls up there; I really didn’t know him,” Campbell said. “I’d never been on him. When I am getting on bulls, I don’t know; I just react to it and don’t think about it. I love getting on bulls I don’t know, except Woopaa. I love that one.”
2002 World Finals event winner J.W. Hart said on CBS Sports Network, “Excellent, excellent bull ride, too. Bull does what he normally does and just kicks and spins. Boudreaux had a couple of opportunities to blow it, but he didn’t. He shoved his hips back down, kept his chin tucked and moved that free arm over his head. Big-time bull rides from Boudreaux Campbell.”
Campbell believes Lincoln, his first event with three qualified rides since Anaheim, California, on Sept. 10, could be the catalyst to him riding a hot streak into Vegas for the final two PBR events of 2021.
He wants to be viewed as the rider to beat when it comes to claiming the prestigious World Finals event title and $300,000.
“This is really good going into Vegas because now I am going to go home and work harder to stay in this position,” Campbell said. “I want to have a target on my back come the third or fourth round. I want to be the guy they are all chasing. This momentum is going to carry me there. I know when I show up in Vegas that I won the last regular-season event, and I am here to win this one too.
“So come on, boys, let’s go.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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