Durazo Believes ‘It’s a Different Year’ for Team Mexico
By: Darci Miller
ARLINGTON, Texas – Edgar Durazo is slowly but surely taking over North America.
When presented with that fact, he let out a delighted laugh.
“Yes!” he exclaimed. “The northwest territories.”
The native of Moctezuma, Sonora, Mexico, is currently in Arlington, Texas, for the 2020 Winstar World Casino and Resort Global Cup USA, presented by Monster Energy, but his road to continental domination actually begins north of the border, in Canada.
In 2019, Durazo became the first Mexican bull rider to win the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association championship.
It’s an honor he does not take lightly.
“It means a lot, because there are three gold buckles in the world to win, and that’s one of them,” Durazo said. “So I’m pretty excited about it. PBR world champ claims a gold buckle. PRCA champ claims a gold buckle. And Canadian champ claims a gold buckle as well. And that’s one thing that really means a lot to me, that my career is going where I’ve been pointing at and what I’ve been working for.”
Durazo has lived and competed in Canada since 2012, and absolutely gushes about his adopted home country.
“I love it there,” he said. “We love to be there. It’s our second home. I’ve got phenomenal friendships up there, like my family. Me and my wife just fell in love with the country, and we just stayed there. We’re now just waiting on our permanent residence, and we’re really good. Enjoying it, between the three countries. Because we’re in Canada, we’re traveling [in the U.S.], too, and have a lot of family here, and in Sonora. So we’re just on the west coast. From Sonora, Mexico, all the way to Alberta, Canada. That’s kind of where we travel a lot.”
Indeed, Alberta is nearly 3,000 miles due north of Moctezuma, the distance running through the Rocky Mountain region of the United States.
Durazo’s last PBR event was in May of 2019 – the Ty Murray Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico – as he’s mostly focused on the Canadian rodeo circuit, which left little time for traveling stateside.
He does, however, have plans to eventually head south again.
“Bulls are bulls, and they’re the same caliber bulls as here,” Durazo said. “So it’s been good. It’s another step on the ladder to the goal, and we’re doing it. We’re having fun at it.
“I’m working hard at my sport. And I’ve already accomplished (the CPRA championship), and there’s more to go. There’s the PBR, too. There’s the PRCA, too. I’ve accomplished one already, and I’ve got two more to go.”
Arlington is further east than Durazo’s primary travel route, but it’s here that Durazo will represent Team Mexico for the fourth time on the Global Cup stage.
Team Mexico is the perennial Global Cup underdog, finishing fifth out of five teams in Edmonton in 2017 and Sydney in 2018. In Arlington last year, Mexico went 4-for-18 to move up in the standings, finishing fifth out of six teams.
Durazo is 2-for-6 all-time at the Global Cup, with two of his buckoffs coming just north of 7 seconds. He only had one out in Arlington in 2019, suffering a pelvic contusion when he was stepped on by Pennywise after a 7.58-second buckoff in Round 1 that sidelined him for two months.
But his subsequent success had head coach Gerardo Venegas and assistant coach Jerome Davis itching to select Durazo for their roster in 2020.
Durazo has drawn American Gangster (7-4, UTB) for Round 1 (RidePass, 7:45 p.m. ET).
Joining Durazo on the Mexican squad are Alvaro Aguilar Alvarez, Francisco Garcia Torres, Alfonso Orozco, Juan Carlos Contreras, Gustavo Pedrero and Javier Garcia.
It’s a team that Durazo is incredibly optimistic about.
In late summer of 2019, a number of Team Mexico hopefuls converged on Davis’s ranch to bond as a group, get on high-caliber bulls and learn from one of the best minds in the business.
“That was amazing,” Durazo said. “These guys, they’re phenomenal people. They’re great human beings, and we got a really good experience there. Between Gerardo and Jerome, they’re helping us a lot, and doing different things to get us prepared for this kind of event. What can I say about them? We’ve got the world champ here. We’ve got the top Mexican rider from our country. You couldn’t get better coaches than these two guys, and the team is phenomenal. It’s strong. We’re all excited about it.
“It’s a different year.”
With a number of Team Mexico stalwarts left off the roster, including Francisco Morales and Jorge Valdiviezo, Durazo assumes the role of veteran and team leader on a Mexican team that hopes to make some waves on the international stage.
“It’s truly an honor for me, because I’ve just been riding, having fun, doing what I love,” Durazo said. “I’ve been myself, just like the other guys. I’m just not thinking any different. It’s just ride one bull at a time, and have fun.. It’s something that I’ve been working at for the last 10 years, being on bulls and been training a lot. And now we’re here, and that’s the main reason, right? For me, it’s an honor to represent my country, and got all my nation behind me, and all the team and all that. So I’m pretty excited, and I’m just going to go out there and ride one bull at a time, and hopefully do the best on my end.”
With a strong performance in Arlington, Durazo could take one more step on his journey to taking over North America. But more than that, he believes in his team, and thinks that this could be Mexico’s year to finally break out.
“I think this is the year that Team Mexico is stronger than any other year,” Durazo said. “The coaches are pretty good, and they picked the guys that are riding good at this moment. And so that’s a more solid team. And between all the guys, we’ve all had a pretty good relationship, too, and we’re all pretty excited about it.”
He grins. “We’re ready to rock.”
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