The Contender focuses on a high school age boy named Alfred who has a pretty simple decent life. Alfred lives with his aunt ever since his parents death and loves going to the movies with his best friend James every week. After James gets into trouble with his new gang, Alfred begins boxing. Alfred never gives up on James, but his boxing career ends after he realizes he doesn't have a killer instinct…. And that friends and family are more important.
On the simple scale of one to ten, I would rate this book an eight.