Manuel Balam

When Manuel (or Manny, as most tend to call him) was about 11 years old, he did an elbow drop on his dad’s back to stop his dad from beating his mom. Perhaps in that moment, Manny vividly learned a harsh reality of life: sometimes people need someone else to stick up for them and take the hits for them. This is what Manny has done every step of the way to get where he is-fight hard and grueling battles, sometimes for basic survival, many times for others. From growing up on Welfare and food stamps, to maneuvering around and surviving drug dealers, gangsters, and violence in his neighborhoods,...