Jerry Izenberg has been a sportswriter and columnist at the Star-Ledger for fifty-four of his sixty-five years in the business. He has been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, and the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey, and he is the only sportswriter to be inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. He won the Associated Press's Red Smith Award for distinguished contributions to sports journalism as well as the Fleischer Award for Boxing Journalism. Izenberg has covered fifty Kentucky Derbies and the first fifty-three Super Bowls. He is married with four children and nine grandchildren. He lives in Henderson, Nevada.

Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time. During his illustrious career, he has won twelve major world titles, was the first boxer to win the lineal championship in five different weight classes, and the only eight-division world championship in the history of the sport. Currently serving as a senator in his native Philippines, Pacquiao is revered for his smile and work ethic, and topped the Ranker's list of best boxers of the twenty-first century.