Tomás Rufo faces this Saturday, at 5:30 p.m., at “La Caprichosa” by Talavera de la Reina the biggest challenge of his career in the bullring: killing six bulls of Santiago Domecq, Victoriano del Río, Garcigrande, Núñez del Cuvillo, Daniel Ruiz and El Freixo.
“When they asked me about it, it made me a little dizzy; there are always doubts about whether I will be able to or not. I took a few days to think about it, but I am very prepared and it is time. “I see it clearly in front of the bull and, above all, that it is in my town,” the bullfighter from Pepino revealed to this newspaper on Wednesday night, after trying some cows in the José Manuel Escolar ranch in Monstesclaros, a stone’s throw from Talavera. The proposal of what is called “encerrona” (no one is forced to be confined with six bulls) came from Antonio Rubio, businessman and owner of “La Caprichosa”, who transferred it to the Lozano brothers, Rufo’s representatives.
After three years as a matador, Rufo has recorded 84 bullfights: two in 2021, 33 in 2022, 31 in 2023 and 18 in 2024. His record is 44 large gates, with 147 ears and three tails from 171 bulls from 24 farms.according to statistics compiled by ABC through the Mundotoro archives. 83 of these 171 bulls belonged to Garcigrande/Domingo Hernández (33), Alcurrucén (28) and Victoriano del Río/Toros de Cortés (22), which means that three farms represent 48.5 percent of the total.
As for the 84 bullfights, 71 took place in Spain, nine in France, three in Colombia and one in Mexico. And of the 80 bullfights in Europe, 28 took place in first category bullrings (with 28 cut ears), 34 in second category bullrings (63 ears) and 18 in third category bullrings (52 ears and three tails). Meanwhile, of the four in America (three in Manizales and one in Aguascalientes), there are four ears.
“I don’t count the races. My career has practically just begun and the numbers are very good. I didn’t imagine that the future would be like this. What happened was special: in my first year I already had a big door in Madrid and a Puerta del Príncipe in Seville,” he acknowledges. Likewise, he has words of gratitude for “the hands in which I find myself”, in reference to his representatives, who “do things in a very favorable way”.
Talavera is undoubtedly the square in which she has stood out the most: six bullfights, six large gates, 22 ears and two tails. What happens? “Well, it’s mainly that I’m lucky. There are bullfights that please the fan and the bullfighter, it’s always difficult to find that key. I’ve had some great afternoons. I remember killing two Santi Domecq bulls and cutting off four ears and a tail; or Daniel Ruiz’s, with four more and a tail…”, he explains. However, “what I’m most proud of is that people come to the square. When I chose the alternative, Talavera wasn’t at its best. Although I think it’s not just my merit: the figures also arrived and the finished posters were made.
In addition to the six bullfights in Talavera, Rufo fought seven times in Madrid, six in Seville, four in Valladolid and three in Manizales, Castellón, Nimes, Toledo, Alicante and Pontevedra. In total, he took a step 36 places from 14 autonomous communities (he has been in all those where there are bulls, except in La Rioja, where he was announced as a bullfighter), besides five French ones (Nîmes, Mont-de-Marsan, Dax, Istres and Bayona) and the two already named from America.
“There are places like Castellón, which is my talisman square and I have won the fair three times in a row. In Pontevedra, the same: I have participated in three afternoons of bullfighting and the only one where I did not come out on top was the first by decision of the president. Nîmes is another square that I understand well (he pardoned Enarbolado, from Toros de Cortés, in 2022). Albacete resists me: I have accomplished tasks and I have not finished them with the sword, but I see that I have my appeal,” he says.
And for the record, three clubs bear his name in Pepino, Nîmes and Pontevedra. “Pepino’s has been there since I became a fan of calves. I live in a city where they have great affection for me and have supported me from the first moment. I was doing a bullfight and 200 people were accompanying me. That means a lot of people are excited, which drives me crazy,” he boasts.
Two ears in Madrid
Asked about the places he has not been to and that he would like to open, Rufo mentions that he is “very excited about Ronda; also Córdoba, Málaga, Huelva or El Puerto de Santa María, which I think are to the taste of my concept. As for the areas in which he aspires to succeed, this year he had the whim to abandon that of Pamplona. And Valencia, Bilbao or Zaragoza are still missing, to name just the first category.
Of course, Madrid is “the one that keeps me awake. My desire is to cut two ears off a bull in Las Ventas; “That’s why I get up every day to train.” You will have a new opportunity at the Autumn Fair on Friday, October 4 at 6:00 p.m., on a poster with José María Manzanares, Román and the cattle of Puerto de San Lorenzo and La Ventana del Puerto, but first, this Saturday, there are six bulls to count in Talavera, where his compatriots, so unaccustomed, are only waiting for a resounding success.
