The veteran Valladolid bullfighter Roberto Domínguez has left behind any professional connection with the world of bullfighting and, incidentally, the direction of the career of Andrés Roca Rey, whom he had taken over since the fall of 2020 following the Peruvian right-hander’s break with the businessman Ramón Valencia.
Domínguez has published a letter through the Mundotoro portal in which he confirms this decision, expressing gratitude before reviewing his successive stages as a television commentator and agent, which followed his career as a bullfighter between the 1970s and 90 of the last 20th century.
In that long letter, Domínguez mentions the milestones of his professional and personal career, emphasizing that he needed to “close the bullfighting chapter” of his life in this way. The veteran right-hander talks about the people who have marked his career, and makes a special mention of the takeover of El Juli.
Roberto Domínguez also refers to his last professional stage, alongside Roca Rey, “who has taught me a new way of walking through life and leading in bullfighting, with the daily Russian roulette of his naked and torn delivery, without caring. the circumstances nor the condition of the bull, imposing its law. The law that now prevails in the new generations of fans who once again believe in the absolute contempt for risk, in the idol, in the hero.”
The list of thanks is extended to the companies (“who have always respected me, understanding that my demands and often intransigence were motivated solely and exclusively to defend those who had trusted me”); to the ranchers (“who have understood that, above friendship and my personal tastes, the bull that could best contribute to the success of the bullfighter it represented at each moment has always prevailed”); to the teams, “whose admiration has grown over time, and above all to the fans, who in all these facets, and for so many years, have been the daily approach to the best memory.”
But Domínguez has relapsed into his professional and personal relationship with Roca Rey, and remembers the mishap that the bullfighter suffered on July 25, 2023 in the Plaza de Santander – from which he miraculously emerged unharmed – as one of the “worst bullfighting moments” of his life together with the goring of El Juli in Seville in 2013.
“When I approached the barrier to ask him how he was, with a lost look he told me: “I can’t explain why nothing has happened to me.” “You will always be lucky because you deserve it,” was Domínguez’s response, warning that this incident is captured in the film ‘Afternoons of Solitude’ by Albert Serra. A documentary, adds Roberto Domínguez, “that thanks to Andrés, has reawakened the interest of the intellectuals in bullfighting, and goes from the topical debate to a much deeper reflection.”
“Because of details like this, I hope that fans and critics understand the importance and responsibility that Andrés has and know how to recognize him as an absolute bastion of world bullfighting and a fundamental link with new generations of fans,” concludes Roberto Domínguez.
Roca Rey’s response, through its social media profiles, has not been long in coming. “Thank you for your dedication and commitment to Roca Rey (the bullfighter) and also to Andrés (the person),” the Peruvian bullfighter has published, speaking of “new horizons” and declaring himself “ready for the challenges to come.”