Bullfight
(IN PHOTO) Spanish matador David Galvan is tackled by a bull during a bullfight at The Maestranza bullring in the Andalusian capital of Seville, southern Spain April 24, 2015. Reuters

Like a boxer beaten by his opponent who seeks a rematch, a Spanish matador, or bullfighter, gored by the bull on his neck twice on Friday wants to return to the stadium to kill the beast. Malaga bullfighter Saul Jimenez Fortes asked Dr Maximo Garcia Padros, official surgeon at Las Ventas, to stitch him up so he could exact revenge on the toro.

Fortes was gored at Madrid’s yearly taurine festival, the San Isidro Fest, on his second bout for the day. The bull hoisted him on its horns and gored Fortes on the neck and stomach.

But despite his injuries, Fortes managed to be on his feet while other matadors arrived to distract the raging bull. This situation allowed Fortes to be carried off by other matadors while the injured bullfighter was pressing his right hand on his bleeding neck, according to The Telegraph.

His neck wound was five inches deep and damaged Fortes’s carotid artery, jugular vein, thyroid gland and oesophagus. The pointed horn also hit the vertebrae, leaving a four-inch wound close to the man’s parotid gland.

However, when Fortes took off his matador suit, he realised the extensive damage, Padros said. The 25-year-old bullfighter is in the hospital’s intensive care and is recovering well, although he would need to undergo a neck scan so doctors could determine the extent on internal damage on Fortes’s neck. But Fortes does not have a fever and has no signs of internal bleeding, reports the New York Daily News.

In 2014, in the same festival, another matador, David Mora, received several gores on his knees. He is still recovering from his injuries. Fortes, meanwhile, lost the chance to exact revenge on the bull since another matador had killed the toro which was the same bull that gored Fortes in 2014.

Despite the risky sport, most of the bullfighters beaten by the bull are only injured. The last time a matador, El Campeno, died from goring injuries was in 1988.

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