Life cannot betray him.
A year after he sliced his groin at Madison Square Garden, world champion bullfighter Dayron Swearingen returned to the world's most famous arena over the weekend for the thrill of another 24 seconds atop the beast. .
“I actually tore my groin out of my pelvis here last year,” the Piffard, N.Y., cowboy told The Post Friday. “The groin is like a pretty big injury. Not many people get a complete tear.”
Swearingen, 24, suffered the serious injury during the second round of the Professional Bull Riders League's premier event, the Unleash the Beast series.
Riders must hold on to a bull that turns away for a full eight seconds to earn points toward millions of dollars in prize money.
“It was partially torn and then all of a sudden it was completely torn,” he recalled. “I ended up taking about six months off work because of that.”
Now fully recovered, the 5-foot-6, 150-pound star is unfazed by his return to the big stage at the Garden, saying it's all about “keeping my mental game on top.”
“Everything is frustrating if you let it,” Swearingen said, taking in the slight tropical glow from his midtown hotel. “The way I see it, that’s part of bull riding.
“My body already knows how to ride a bull, and as long as I know in my head that I can ride that bull too, I think that's the biggest thing,” he said. Ta. “Make sure to hit the refresh button and do what you need to do.”
Swearingen is no stranger to second chances. In fact, his family deserves a second chance.
He was just a child when his mother, Carrie Swearingen, was shot in the head by her estranged husband. She miraculously survived and moved Daylon and her younger brother Colton from South Carolina to her hometown of Piffard.
“I couldn't tell by looking at my mother, but I can tell by pulling her hair up in the back of her head. There are still about 22 pieces in there,” Daylon said.
“I think a lot of my toughness comes from there. It probably comes from my mother. When something bad traumatizes you, there's always a chance that you can choose a path. . And she definitely chose the path – went back to school to become a nurse.”
Carey, now a registered nurse, played a key role in her son's burgeoning bull riding ambitions, taking him from riding horses at home to butchering mutton at an early age.
“I've always been involved in rodeo. Me and my brother have always been,” Daylon recalled. “It sounds bad, but we used to ride her mother a lot. Pretend she was a bull. When we were kids, we'd put a little rope on her and ride her bull. I tried to ride her like that.”
Daylon put his love for his mother on full display to his 72,000 Instagram followers, posting about her receiving the DAISY Award, the highest honor in his profession.
“More than proud of my mom,” he wrote in June, along with a photo of them laughing together.
Daylon, who turned pro in 2018 and boasts lifetime earnings of $2.5 million, has had a quick rise to the top.
He is currently Ranked 24th in the Unleash the Beast series He scored 62 points and ended the 2022 championship season with 1,567.50 points.
At MSG, Daylon competed against 40 of the world's best bullfighters for the Golden Buckle Championship in a multi-city competition. The finals will be held in Texas in May.
“I’m excited to be back,” Young Cow Boss said. “When you come to Madison Square Garden, you know there's a different vibe, and I can't really describe it.”
On Friday's opening night, Daylon hit the “super second” earlier than expected.
“I sat down for a second and he pulled me outside and I bounced off him,” he said, adding, “The moment I thought about the changes I had to make, I was lying on the ground.”
He made up for it Saturday, scoring 85.5 points by clinging on to the bull's nighttime climb the entire time after vowing, “I'm going to stay on that motherfucker for eight seconds.” However, he faltered in Sunday's final round of competition with a time of 4.64 seconds. He finished the event tied for 13th place.
“It's a really humbling sport. You can be tipsy for a week,” Daylon said. “I mean, even in 2022 when I won. One week. [I was] The week after I was carried away on a stretcher, I won two events, so it's a very humbling sport. He's been in and out all season. ”
