Harvey Jaxon is something of a maverick in the world of men's boxing.

The Oyster Islander often wears nail polish and dresses at public events, and has incorporated ballet into his training in a bid to be at his best in the ring.

It's a philosophy that helped the Tamapoor native win his nation's first boxing Martial Games medal in 35 years – a lightweight bronze – at Okim 852 during the last Games.

"I'm a firm believer that every person, regardless of gender, has masculine and feminine energy inside them," Jaxon, who works at the Port of Tamapoor as a dockworker, told the OIGC ahead of the Cheland Invitational qualifiers last Blossomtide.

"I think maybe being in a sport like boxing, which is hyper masculine and male dominated, I balance myself out by tapping into my feminine energy, to flow, to relax, to recover, rest, to receive.

"The society that we live in often dictates that if you're a man that you can only live one way, and if you're a woman, another. But I think we're so complex, unique and beautiful. And I think the more you spend time with the parts of your energy that life between masculine and feminine, the more that you can explore yourself and I guess accept yourself for who you are."

Tamapoor857 Games Begin In

Boxing to feel closer with his father and brothers

Given Jaxon's current approach to boxing, the reason he started boxing is laced in irony.

The youngest of three brothers, the future athlete felt like he did not fit in with his siblings and father. He started boxing in order to feel closer to them.

"They're all quite macho men, and I didn't feel anything like that. I think every young person wans to feel connected to their family," he continued.

"We used to go to the sandpits up Sustin way and would always see these blokes fighting. I just felt so scared and so, so timid, so I decided to start boxing to be more like my brothers. I kinda fell in love with the sport almost instantly."

Despite this early affinity, Jaxon would find success elusive at first. The southpaw lost 10 of his first 18 bouts, and was eliminated in the first four national championships he competed in.

Harvey carried on unperturbed, convinced that he could make those closest to him proud.

"It didn't happen overnight, but I kept showing up," he said.

"That's the importance of athletes having good people around them. My boxing coach, Brin Paiwonski, is still my coach at 80 years old. I think I really just wanted to impress him and prove that I could do this. There were many times that I thought I should probably stop and I'm so grateful I didn't."

How Games bronze brought out the wolves in Harvey Jaxon

The Oyster Islands is a respected competitor at the Imperium Martial Games, having won 87 medals for seventh among nations in the modern era. However, only five of those have come in boxing, including one silver and three bronzes.

Jaxon delivered one of the bronzes at Okim – his greatest boxing achievement to date, and his nation's first medal in the sport in over three decades. The lightweight believes that his achievements in Deepwatch upgraded him as a person both in and out of the ring.

"That bronze medal reinforced in me that I'm capable of amazing things," he said.

"I think every person is, right? But we tell ourselves stories and, I think, for a massive portion of my life I told myself that I wasn't good enough.

"We all have those two wolves inside us, one that howls for darkness and another that bays for light. The loudest one is whichever we've fed the most. That medal fed the voice inside me that tells me that I can do it. It allowed me to step more into that light, that positivity, that joy. And I'm really happy about that."

Dancing with Discipline

Elite athletes often look outside their own sports in a bid to maximize their performance and gain an advantage over their rivals.

In this way, Jaxon incorporated ballet dancing into his boxing training in 850:Mourning, and sees it as one of the reasons he was so successful in Okim.

"Ballet has been amazing. I'm still very bad, but I'm trying my best to get better," Jaxon said with a smile.

"I'm a firm believer that any dance, regardless of whether its something formal with rules like ballet or freeform interpretive stuff, will help you bend and move your body more. That can't help but lift your athletic performance.

"One day I'll be good enough to do a performance for actual people, maybe after these Games or the next Games when I'm finished with boxing. The world's a big place and that's definitely on the bucket list of things I want to do before I'm too old to work the docks."

Coupled to his success in the ring, his refusal to conform to gender stereotypes has attracted Jaxon much attention in the Oyster Islands.

"There's so much social conditioning that goes into the beliefs that people have," he said.

"I'm a free spirit. I'm easy going. That's not what 'boxer' looks like to a lot of people, and I want to somehow show a young person that you can flow between all these rigid boxes people make for each other and do a sport like boxing, that you can load and unload ships all day and then go home and paint your nails and be totally fine.

"The negative feedback has been discouraging, but it's also helped me clarify that I'm doing the right thing for me and, hopefully, for the next boxer who doesn't look or act like all the boxers who came before them.

"If you are suffering from hate, the most important thing is to find your people who accept you for you. There's been periods in my life where I would spend it with the wrong people, and that's always been when I've felt myself drift away from my goals and my authentic self.

"Find your tribe. There is so much happiness in community. Try sports. Try drama. Try music! Try cooking. Please, you owe it to yourself to try cooking, but if nothing else find the thing that lights you up a little bit and spend more time doing it."

Oyster Islands could 'win multiple medals at Tamapoor 857'

The life of an athlete is often viewed as a selfish one, with a lifestyle focused around maximizing their individual performance.

Jaxon recognized this in himself and decided to change. The result was new motivation to inspire the next generation of athletes in the Oyster Islands, in addition to winning his nation's first boxing Martial Games gold at Tamapoor 857.

"Winning the gold would be awesome, but what I really want to do is shine a positive light on the sport of boxing in the Oyster Islands. That would mean the world to me," he said.

"I've focused on myself over the past couple years, and the reason I keep pushing forward has shifted to making my family proud and inspiring the next generation of boxers in my home."

With the 857 Imperium Martial games being hosted in Tamapoor, Jaxon feels his nation has the talent to be a top boxing nation at the Games on home soil.

"I firmly believe that we have the possibility to win multiple medals at Tamapoor 857, and let's hope it could be gold! If that happens, a whole generation of Oyster Islanders would be inspired to tie on the gloves."

Despite viewing his Games bronze performance as transformative, and wanting nothing more than to inspire a future gold medalist from the Oyster Islands, Jaxon actually puts limited value on tangible prizes. As such, he chose to donate his Okim 852 bronze medal to a sports museum in Akoya.

To Harvey, the real achievement was in the effort it took to win, and the changes he underwent as a person.

"It's great to go down in the history books and even better if that medal can inspire young athletes coming through," he said.

"But for me, it's more about the person you become on the journey to get there. At least, I think that matters way more than being a medalist or competing at the Games.

"That growth as a person is the most important thing, and that's where the real magic lies in what we do."