Matador Rafita Mirabal: Too Young to Risk Death?

June 3, 2010— -- He entered the ring for his moment of truth -- prancing, posing, even walking like a grown man. But appearances can be deceiving.

Rafita Mirabal may have looked like a toreador, but he was, in fact, a little boy in a bullfighter's costume. Only it wasn't Halloween. He faced a real bull with real horns.

When asked if he was scared of bulls, then-11-year-old Rafita quickly answered, "Well, maybe a normal kid, but not me!"

Rafita isn't the only little boy facing danger in the bull ring: Jairo Miguel of Caceres, Spain has been fighting since he was eight; Michelito Lagravere of Merida, Mexico has tempted the fates since he first faced 500 pounds of fury at the age of six.

But are these little bull fighters too young to be risking death in this extreme sport that they love? Not if you ask Rafita, who said he doesn't think about danger in the ring.

"For bullfighting there is no age," Rafita, now 14, told "20/20." "The only thing that counts is the decision to be there in front of the bull and enjoy being there. That gives me satisfaction!"

For Rafita, who lives south of the border in the small town of Aguascalientes, Mexico, it's not the danger, but the cheers from the crowd that give him the courage way beyond his years.

In Mexico City, Rafita performs at the biggest bullfighting ring in the world. He does well and though he's not strong enough yet to actually kill the bull, the crowd is not disappointed.

"These are experiences that can never be compared to anything else," Rafita said, "to be carried out on people's shoulders, hearing the people shout, 'Torero, torero.'"

Rafita's parents -- who first dressed him in a bullfighting suit when he was only three years old, sent him to a special toreador school, and then arranged for a private coach to practice with him -- are well aware of the risks. In fact, they agonize over them. His father, who nervously stands watch at the edge of the ring during each contest, worries that if something terrible happens he will be blamed.

"Many times I have asked God if I am making a mistake," said Rafita's father, Rafael Mirabal. "Should I cut off Rafa's career right there and say, 'That's it, it's over?' I've lost sleep over it and the one who is responsible in this case would be me."