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What was going to be one more interview facing San Isidro has ended up raising a dust in the bullfighting world. The statements of Andrés Roca Rey (26), the maximum figure, about Daniel Luque (33), another of the matadors of the moment, have brought a lot of tail. Three weeks after the controversial interview published in the newspaper ABC, where the Peruvian right-hander showed his refusal to fight with the Sevillian, in the bullfighting gossip there is no talk of anything else.

The rumors about the bad relationship between the two, which in addition to squares share a town (Gerena, half an hour from Seville) comes from afar, but the Lima had never been questioned on the subject. "What about Daniel Luque? Is it true that you don't want to meet him in a gang yard?" the journalist asks. Far from giving any answer to get out of the way, Roca Rey entered to kill accusing his partner of disrespecting him and trying to "provoke him to look for a rivalry that does not exist."

Roca Rey was not referring to professional rivalries, but to personal problems: "It is not pleasant to mess with loved ones, with your family or people close to your crew. He's such a great bullfighter and I admire him so much and he learns so much from him, it's a shame, but I don't want to be with someone disrespectful in a gang yard when I go to risk my life."

The Peruvian has not wanted to talk about the subject again. Nor has he specified who Luque has messed with to have to make the drastic decision not to share a gang yard (that is, not to bullfight) with the Sevillian. Luque hasn't opened his mouth either. Both are focused on succeeding in the season. "We have decided not to talk about this issue," says Juan Bautista, the representative of the Sevillian right-hander. "Daniel is calm, very focused on his season, on his preparation," he adds. On Thursday he returns to Las Ventas, the square that resists him, where he seeks to show his "fullness".

In the environment of Roca Rey they do not want to wiggle the issue anymore. They refuse to confirm or deny the rumors that point to a girl from Gerena as the cause of the disagreement.

"Something happened a few months ago, a comment that apparently Luque released about a girl that Roca Rey knows. It reached his ears and he didn't like it at all. That is what is said, "says a person closely linked to the bullfighting world.

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Other sources consulted by LOC also point to the "complicated character" of the Sevillian bullfighter, which he has shown in recent years even with his crew. "He has a reputation for being edge-lining, rude. No one could stand him. It was not uncommon to see him throwing the anger to the gang in the square although lately he is much more focused, he looks more smiling. "

Whether there is a rivalry in the personal field is something that people in the environments of both right-handers refuse to talk about. Luque has had a girlfriend for many years and their relationship is so stable that he considered his mother-in-law a second mother. Hers, Isabel, died when she was 17. The right-hander was very attached to her and her loss affected him greatly.

As for Roca Rey, at 26 years old he is single, at least since mid-2022. After a six-year relationship with Andrea, a young woman his age from Gerena, he has not met any other girlfriend, although he devastates the girls. Among the fan club of the highest grossing and famous bullfighter of the moment is Victoria Federica, the daughter of the Infanta Elena, with whom it was said that she had more than a close friendship.

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The rivalry in the arena is something else. Roca Rey denied it in the ABC interview, but many fans are looking forward to them being measured again in the square. One of them is the writer and bullfighting critic Andrés Amorós. He is clear: "You don't know for sure what happens, but my opinion is that those things are fixed with a hand to hand. Rivalries between bullfighters have always existed and were arranged in the rings."

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Amorós assures that Daniel Luque is a "very irregular" bullfighter but since the pandemic "he is on the right track. Right now it's launched." The critic believes that the Lima matador avoids bullfighting with the Sevillian because he "comes herding". "Roca Rey is the boss, it is the highest grossing, the one that fills the squares. He is the one who has the pan by the handle and can refuse to fight with it, "he says, although he believes it is a mistake. "Bad temper should give a damn. What's more, a bullfighter has to be cool and vain. Bullfighters prick each other, it's always been like that."

José Antonio Campuzano, Roca Rey's agent for eight years (since he arrived as a bullfighter in Spain, with 15) does not share Amorós' opinion. "You know, the saying 'runs of expectation, runs of disappointment' is usually fulfilled," he says. In addition, he stresses that Luque "is in a great moment as a bullfighter" but it is Roca Rey "who commands".

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Campuzano defends his former pupil, although he has not been with him for more than two years. "He was a hard worker, very focused on being a bullfighter and he has succeeded."

Being number one at 26 has earned him millions. It remains a secret what he earns per run ("100,000? it is not unreasonable to speak of 200,000 per bullfight in San Isidro, "says Amorós). A fortune with which he has bought a farm in Peru and another in Gerena, La Consentida, which belonged to the granddaughter of the tycoon Randolph Hearst. There, in his paradise, he takes refuge with his people, his parents and his brother Fernando, a retired bullfighter, ten years older than him.

  • Andres Roca King
  • Daniel Luque
  • Bulls

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