CAGE RAGE
At 5 years old, a scrawny Mavrick Harvey got
his first taste of fighting -- assaulting a 26-year-old drunken driver
for crashing into his mother's car.
The aggressive altercation awakened his
mother to Harvey's uncontrollable temper.
Photos and Story by
Garth Milan
To channel his animosity, Harvey's mother
enrolled him in martial arts classes leading to years of training and hundreds
of tournaments.
Through martial arts, Harvey has learned
to control his aggression and now puts it to use in what he calls the most
challenging combat of all - submission-style fighting in a chain-link fence
octagon.
Submission fighting is becoming popular,
according to Harvey, because it's the only arena where people can see "real
fighting." With accusation of fixed fighting in full-contact sports such
as professional boxing, submission fighting has gained popularity due to
its authenticity.
"In cage fighting, there's no faking it.
There's only three ways out of that cage: the fighter either taps out,
is knocked out, or the ref stops it before there is a serious injury,"
Harvey said.
Harvey fights with a style all his own
called Shao-Lin Tai-Chi Street Fighting - a mixture of several different
types of martial arts.
"It's my own art. I am an individualist,
and I always have been. When I step inside that steel cage, I have got
to know everything about fighting - I can't rely on one specific form,"
Harvey said.
Training is important to the 29-year-old,
who is in the gym five days a week. Harvey exercises by himself because
he likes to be able to work out at his own pace, and says that since he
doesn't have a spotter in the ring, he doesn't want one in the gym.
"It doesn't matter how much training you
have, it's all in your heart [because] your life is in that cage," Harvey
said. |
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