Showing posts with label bullfighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bullfighting. Show all posts

Monday, August 27, 2012

Success 2012: Julián López Escobar, commonly known as El Juli, one of the best spanish bullfighters. Julian filed a lawsuit against Colombian singer Shakira, because she used footage of some of his bullfights without his permission in her music video

Julián López Escobar (born October 3, 1982), commonly known as El Juli, is a Spanish bullfighter.

After he caped his first bull at the young age of nine, Julián's wealthy family enrolled him in the Madrid Academy of Tauromachy. After years of studying, he moved to Mexico to perform in bullfights, as Spain required novilleros (junior matador) to be of at least 16 years of age.
On March 16, 1997, at the age of 14, Julián made his bullfighting debut in Texcoco, Mexico. He finished with a standing ovation and received two ears. In bullfighting, the detached ears of the dead bull(s) are trophies, which are awarded for an above-average bullfight.

Approximately one year later, on September 18, 1998, Julián received his alternativa in Nîmes, France. This marked the passage from being a novillero to a full-fledged matador de toros (senior bullfighter). At age 15, he became the youngest professional bullfighter in the history of the sport. Julián led a toast to his father, a former novillero who was forced into retirement after losing his right eye in a bullfight.

By the age of 17, Julián had become the highest-paid bullfighter in history. Not only did his good looks and affluent background add to his popularity, but his skills in the ring were unmatched. Julián once placed his own banderillas (spiked banners), which is typically the job of the banderillero.

This requires the same amount of training as becoming a matador, and can be accomplished only by highly talented matadors. Additionally, in three out of his 134 performances in 1999, he was the lone matador. This meant killing all six bulls during the fight, rather than the usual two, by himself. This feat requires great skill and stamina, which further enhanced his reputation.

During the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain in 2010, he was injured and had to be hospitalized after a bull gored him in the scrotum.

He married Rosario Domecq, daughter of Pedro Domecq de la Riva and Rosario Marquez, on October 20, 2007, in the chapel of the Convent of Santa Catalina in Santo Domingo de Jerez de la Frontera. In September 2011, they became the parents of twins, a girl named Rosario and a boy named Fernando.

Juilan filed a lawsuit against Colombian singer Shakira, because she used footage of some of his bullfights without his permission in her music video.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Success 2011: El Matador Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez, Lord of the Bullring

Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez, (born on January 13, 1977 in Madrid, Spain) is a Spanish matador.


Rivera is the son of Francisco Rivera 'Paquirri' and Carmen Ordóñez along with his elder brother, the matador Francisco Rivera Ordóñez. His father’s second wife was Isabel Pantoja, with whom Cayetano has a half brother, Francisco Rivera Pantoja.


Rivera belongs to a long line of famous bullfighters: his great-grandfather was Cayetano Ordóñez, who fought under the name, 'Niño de la Palma', and was the inspiration for the matador in Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises (1926). Cayetano's grandfather Antonio Ordóñez was a friend of Orson Welles and Hemingway and subject of his book The Dangerous Summer (1960; published 1985) alongside Cayetano's great-uncle Luis Miguel Dominguín. His father Paquirri was killed by the bull Avispado when Cayetano was aged 8. His elder brother is Francisco Rivera Ordóñez and his cousin is Jose Antonio Canales Rivera.

Rivera made his novice debut 'con picadores' on March 26, 2005. On September 9, 2006, he took his 'alternativa' to become a full matador in the bullring with which his family is most associated in Ronda with his brother, Francisco, as his 'padrino.'He cut four ears of the two bulls he fought that day.

In 2007 he was on the cover of Vogue next to Penelope Cruz for an editorial titled 'Made in Spain' shot by Annie Leibovitz.


On his bullfighting time he is dressed by Armani. Cayetano Rivera and Giorgio Armani met in Valencia in 2006 and it was the Italian designer who proposed to design this very special suit for him. Armani specially designed the bullfighting costume, called the ‘Goyesco’ for Cayetano, for the ‘Corrida Goyesca’, that was to take place on September 6th, 2008 in Ronda, Spain.

Cayetano’s suit of lights was in the Goyaesque style. Years ago, also painter Pablo Picasso designed the same costume for Cayetano’s father. Though, an incident in Palencia where he got caught on the bull's horn prevented him to participate on the awaited occasion and it was postponed to September 6th, 2009. Cayetano along with José María Manzanares and Miguel Ángel Perera cut 8 ears that day of which the likes of Duquesa de Alba and Victorio & Lucchino were present.


In the season of 2009 he fought in 58 festivals and cut 77 ears, ranking him as number 6 in Spain on the Escalafón Matadores, the 'Matadors Ladder', up from number 16 in 2008.

Rivera represented the men’s accessories and ready-to-wear for luxury brand Loewe as well as the ambassador of the brand. On December 16, 2009 Rivera was presented as the next face for Loewe's men's fragrance 7 Loewe which launched in the fall of 2010. According to the company, style, pedigree, beauty and elegance are the attributes shared by Loewe and Cayetano Rivera, which is why the luxury brand set its sights on the bullfighter to advertise a fragrance that is about both tradition and modernity.

The perfume eventually won 'Best Masculine Selective Fragrance' award at the 2010 'Academia del Perfume' gala, it competed against other finalists in the category such as Bleu de Chanel and Boss Bottled Night. The award was received by Cayetano Rivera along with Loewe Spain General Manager Perfumes Francisco Prieto.

In Top 10 of Spanish Celebrities, brothers Francisco and Cayetano Rivera Ordoñez are on the 7th spot.

Cayetano Rivera married model and actress Blanca Romero on October 26, 2001 and divorced in 2004.