year-old Spanish matador is taking on six bulls in one afternoon in a dangerous feat usually attempted only by seasoned veterans. Jairo Miguel Sanchez Alonso will fight the bulls in his hometown of Caceres, in Spain's southwestern Extremadura Region. The average age for matadors in Spain is 25 to 30, and the minimum age requirement is 16. Jairo Miguel, he uses that as his showbiz name, spent some four years fighting in Latin America to escape Spain's age limit. The normal format for a bullfight is three matadors taking on two animals each. Aficionados say it is extremely rare for a matador as young as 16 to fight six, a challenge requiring great physical and mental stamina. In an interview the night before the big fight, Jairo Miguel, the son of a bullfighter, said he was nervous but confident in his skills. A tall, slender boy with a baby-face and a nice smile, he bears a scar from a ghastly goring that nearly punctured his heart in Mexico in 2007. He got started at age 6, locking horns with a young cow. “Ever since I was very small I have had this in my genes,” he said. “I have practically grown up with bulls,” he said. Juan Belmonte, a bullfighting critic for Canal Sur television in Seville, said Jairo Miguel is largely untested but a promising matador.
