Mexico's 12-year-old bullfighter
Pre-teen matador Michel "Michelito" Lagravere — who's already been bullfighting for eight years — ignites new debate about an already controversial sport

A 12-year-old French-Mexican boy has become the youngest bullfighter to perform in Mexico City's main ring. Michel "Michelito" Lagravere entered the sport at age four, but has had to restrict his fighting to Latin America due to age restrictions in Spain and protests in France. After a 848-pound bull knocked the young matador around during his performance at the Plaza Mexico arena, the North American press took notice. "Are his parents kidding?" asks Katrina Douglas in Gather. Bullfighting is already lunacy, "but to add a 12-year-old boy to the mix, is beyond barbarism." What's even more amazing, says Rick Chandler in NBC Sports, is that this is "not the first time little Michel has been totally owned by a bull. Last year he was gored not once, but twice in a bullfight in Colombia and when his father jumped into the ring to rescue him, he was gored." Watch Lagravere's Mexico City bullfight below:
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