Bullfighter Dies During Practice

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/01/1997 at 12:00 AM EDT

Bullfighter Francisco "Curro" Rivera, 49, said to be one of Mexico's finest, died of a heart attack Tuesday in Mexico City while he was practicing his craft. "He died how he wanted, in the ring," family friend Ricardo Garcia Rojas told Mexico's state-run news agency, Notimex. Rivera, who had hung up his red cape eight years ago when he retired after some 1,000 fights, had planned to return to the ring next month.