The Contender, by Robert Lipsyte, it is about a boy named Alfred who dropped out of high school and was doing drugs and partying a lot, then he decided he wanted to be clean, so he decided to box. He met a guy named Mr. Donatelli who was a gym manager and a boxing coach. He invited Alfred to his gym to box a little bit. He started to go religiously, almost every day. He would go on a run early in the morning, when he got home, he would eat a big meal, and then go to the gym and train with Mr. Donatelli. Then once he got to the point where he was good enough to spar, he did, So that he can see what it is like. Next he started to actually go to fights, then he got cocky and went to a party when he wasn't supposed to. 

I liked The Contender because Robert Lipsyte made it very detailed by adding detail about the little sounds, scents, and feelings. I recommend this book to mature teens because of language and real life situations.  I also like this book because there weren't too many characters so I wouldn’t have to remember all of there names, there were only like five characters.