The PBR Monster Energy Buckoff at the Garden Returns to NYC

Clark Thompson and Warren Rosenberg, MetroSports Magazine January 9, 2022

They call it The World’s Most Famous Arena.

Over its life it has hosted competitions featuring the world’s best in basketball, boxing, hockey, mixed martial arts and wrestling and has hosted undefeated, world-class athletes the likes of Muhammed Ali, Joe Frazier and Mike Tyson. On the weekend of January 7-8, 2022 in front of large and enthusiastic crowds, a young athlete who had traveled north from his home in Punta Gorda, Florida, went up against two of the best athletes in the world and won. He left in the early morning hours of January 9th to head back home, victorious and undefeated in his first contest at Madison Square Garden. This athlete goes by the name ‘Big Whiskey’ and his two opponents during the weekend were Cody Jesus and Ezekiel Mitchell, two of the PBR’s top 35 bull riders in the world. He was one of many of the world’s top bucking bulls to wow the fans and challenge the riders as the PBR returned to NYC.

After missing the 2021 contest at MSG due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Professional Bull Rider’s ‘Monster Energy Buckoff at The Garden Presented by Ariat’ returned for its 19th run in New York City. While the 22-year old PBR Bull Rider, Kyler Oliver won his first PBR Elite Tour contest of his career, we’re more focused on another champion of the event, the world’s 9th ranked bucking bull from the Tex Brothers Ranch / 5S Bulls, ‘Big Whiskey’ who went undefeated for the weekend and holds a 100% buckoff percentage for the season and an 80% career buckoff percentage.

Not more than one mile from Madison Square Garden, beginning at the corner of 9th Avenue and 16th Street, the City’s now upscale Meatpacking District was once home to approximately 250 slaughterhouses and meat packing plants. The fate of many of Big Whiskey’s ancestors on their first and last trip to New York City was much less pleasant. With the knowledgeable New York sports fans enthusiastically cheering them on, and with the dominant performance of bulls like Big Whiskey, these athletes have taken have taken a step toward avenging the horrors faced by their ancestors.

The PBR Unleash The Beast next travels to Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois, for the PBR Tractor Supply Co. Invitational. The event will be on Friday, January 14 at 7:45 p.m. CST and Saturday, January 15 at 6:45 p.m. CST.

PBR RidePass on PlutoTV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of every PBR Unleash The Beast event. PBR RidePass is available on desktops, laptops and mobile devices via www.pluto.tv. Tune to channel 720 for the latest programming schedule, and click here for on-demand PBR programming.