The Contender
Summarizing Chapter 1
grocery store
Alfred
Major
Hollis
alarm
Aunt Pearl
Jewish
engineer
Name _______________________________________
Sonny
father
mother
Harlem
beat
gang
movies
Uncle
James (2)
cave
force
Epsteins’
In chapter 1, we met the main character, ___________________. He is in a difficult situation. He lives in
______________________, a section of New York City. This section was once a vibrant part of the African-American
community in the 1920s and 1930s but is mostly a slum area in the 1960s. Alfred’s best friend is ___________________.
Alfred’s best friend has been there for him when Alfred’s life has fallen apart. First, Alfred’s ___________________ left
the family. Then, a few years later, Alfred’s _______________________ died of pneumonia, and Alfred went to live with
his _________________________. Alfred sought safety and comfort in his “safe zone,” a ___________________ in the
park. It was here that James helped Alfred get through these tough times. Both Alfred and James had high hopes for their
lives. James wanted to become an ________________________ and have Alfred help him design buildings and other
things. Once they were successful, they planned to come back to Harlem and give back to their community.
Unfortunately, both teens quit school before they were able to realize their dreams. Alfred found a job in a
_____________________________, but James was unable to get a job so now he hangs out with a _________________.
The leader of this gang is __________________________, and he has his “helpers,” _____________________ and
_________________________. Major keeps control of the gang by ___________________. When Alfred and James
were younger, Major and his gang used to torment them. Now James has become a part of the gang.
Major and the gang make fun of Alfred and call him ___________________ Alfred because they think he does
whatever the whites tell him to. One of Alfred’s favorite Friday night activities is to go to the ____________________,
but one night when Alfred tries to get James to go along, James refuses. Instead, Major, James, and the rest of the gang
decide to rob the ____________________________ grocery store, where Alfred works. They do this because Alfred
accidentally tells them that the Epsteins keep the money in the cash register on Friday nights because they are
_____________________ , and it is against their religion to touch money on their Sabbath, which begins on Friday night.
Alfred forgets to tell them about the newly installed burglar ________________________, and
______________________ is caught by the police during the robbery. When Alfred bumps into Major and the gang later
on that night, the gang members ______________________ Alfred because they think he purposely did not tell them
about the alarm.
The Contender
fighter
defend
Aunt Pearl’s
Summarizing Chapter 2
Donatelli’s Gym
lies
Major
Name ________________________
stairs
somebody
James
grocery store
drug addicts
Henry
In this chapter Alfred wakes up in bed in ______________________ apartment. When she
asks him what has happened to him, he ___________________ and says he fell off a fence. Aunt
Pearl tells him that ___________________ has been arrested in the attempted burglary at the
___________________________. She also tells him that _________________, the crippled young
man who works at the gym, brought Alfred home the night he was hurt.
Alfred stays in bed all day and goes out to walk around that evening. He sees some
_______________________ shooting up in the hallway of his apartment, and at first he envies their
chance to escape the awful surroundings. Then he thinks of how these people look after several
years of shooting up, and he decides that he doesn’t envy them after all.
While he is walking, he thinks he sees _____________________, so he ducks into the building
where ______________________________ is located. He climbs what seems like many
__________________ to the gym. He walks into the dark room and tells the man who is there that
he wants to be a ______________________. He does this because he wants to be able to
_____________________ himself against the gang, but he also wants a way to become
________________________ and get out of the slums.
The Contender
peanut
heavy
champion
nine
Summarizing Chapter 3
white
run
soda
sit-ups
milk
reason
blue
climbing
Name _____________________________
fear
fried
contender
green
quitting
threatening
no
starting
ring
push-ups
meat
rules
When Alfred walks into the gym, Donatelli starts grilling him immediately. Donatelli is the owner of the
gym, an older man with ____________________ hair in a crewcut and cold _______________ eyes. First,
when Donatelli asks Alfred if he is afraid and Alfred says ____________, Donatelli says that a man must have
___________________ but make it work for him. He also tells Alfred that fighting in the
_____________________ is different from fighting on the street because the ring has
_____________________.
He asks Alfred to hit the two bags in the gym. One is the _________________ bag, which is used to
build power; the other is the ___________________ bag, which is used to build timing and speed.
Donatelli describes the training of a boxer. He will have to _________________ early every morning
no matter what. Then he’ll go home and eat a breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, toast and tea. He can no longer
eat __________________ foods or drink ________________. After work, he will come to the gym and do
_________________, ___________________, jump rope, etc. He’ll go home and eat
____________________, a ___________________ vegetable, a salad, fruit and drink ________________ for
dinner. He must be asleep by _______________ o’clock.
When Donatelli asks Alfred why he quit school, Alfred says there was no ____________________ to
stay. When Donatelli asks Alfred why he thinks he won’t quit training to be a boxer, Alfred says he wants to be
somebody, a _______________________. Donatelli tells him the most important thing is to be a
_______________________, the man coming up. He explains to him that it’s the ____________________
that makes the man. He also says that ________________________ before you try is worse than never
______________________ at all.
When Alfred leaves, he doesn’t think the steps are as darkly ______________________ as they were
when he arrived.
The Contender
Dorothy
college
James
Jeff
alarm
Summarizing Chapter 4
nationalist
choir
Epsteins
Peace Corps
Queens
trades
run
voter
Name __________________________
rights
lawyer
white
robbery
opportunities
Major
Wilson
Mr. Donatelli
On the way to church Alfred is confronted by some people at the _______________________ rally.
The speakers are telling the audience that blacks must take their ______________________ now, that the
______________________ man has kept him down long enough. Alfred pretends not to hear. When they
arrive at church, Aunt Pearl takes her place in the ___________________, and Alfred tires to slump into his
usual day-dreaming state. At one point, Alfred sees ____________________ standing in the door of the
church, staring at him.
After church, Alfred and his family board the subway to ride to _____________________, where his
Aunt ______________________ and Uncle ____________________ live in their own nice house in a clean,
quiet neighborhood. Uncle Wilson questions Alfred about his future plans, and tells him that blacks have to be
ready for the ________________________ that are opening up. He encourages Alfred to think about the
______________________, such as carpentry and bricklaying. He then talks about Alfred’s cousin
__________________, who is a successful _____________________ student. Jeff is talking about joining the
__________________________________ and going to Africa. He may become a
_________________________ or a teacher after graduation. He is also going to work in
________________________ registration in the South during the summer. Alfred wants to tell his uncle about
___________________________, but he thinks better of it and decides not to.
Once they are home, Alfred thinks about ____________________. He also know that in the morning
the ____________________ will question him about the attempted _______________________. As he
considers all that he has heard that day from the black nationalists and Uncle Wilson, he decides to set the
____________________ for 5:30, obviously meaning that he intends to ____________________ in the
morning to begin his training as a boxer.
The Contender
Aunt Pearl
training
trust
Summarizing Chapter 5
policemen
fruit
swollen
Mr. Donatelli
Lou
Henry
Name __________________________
probation
money
milk
James
cold
Alfred begins his _____________________ by running in the park. He feels great until two
_________________________ stop him and ask him why he’s out running so early. When he tells them about
Mr. Donatelli, they smile and let him go, but he feels defeated and goes home.
___________________________ questions him about why he has been out that early, but he doesn’t tell her
the reason.
That day at work is tough. The oldest Epstein, _____________________, questions him about the
robbery, and Alfred is very uncomfortable. Lou tells him that James will probably get
__________________________ since it is his first offense and nothing was taken. It is clear the Epsteins no
longer _____________________ him as they once did, however, when they don’t let Alfred take the cash
register _____________________ to the bank. Alfred is so uncomfortable that he doesn’t even take the
__________________ and ________________ for lunch that the Epsteins provide.
What is very difficult is when Alfred sees ________________________ looking in the window at him.
James’s face is __________________ and his eyes are __________________ and hard. He doesn’t respond
when Alfred calls to him.
Alfred puts in a long day at the store. Just when he decides the boxing idea was stupid,
___________________ stops by and tells him that _________________________ has spoken about him.
The Contender
Bud Martin
Lightning Lou Epp
headgear
Henry
Summarizing Chapter 6
Dr. Corey
sit-ups
tape
bleeding
Name ____________________________
punch
jaw
trash
ticket
Mr. Donatelli
second
Red
boxing
Alfred arrives at the gym and seems totally disoriented. He has no idea what he should do because
neither _____________________ nor Mr. Donatelli is around. He watches as guys spar, do exercises, work
the peanut bag, etc. He almost leaves, but _______________________, the dentist from downstairs, bumps
into him and tells him that he might as well stay and start with _________________________. When one of
the boxers laughs at his sit-ups, another boxer shows him how to do it correctly.
Later on, Henry arrives and begins to help ____________________________, who is Mr. Donatelli’s
assistant. Bud is an older, skinny man with no teeth. Alfred has only his street clothes, so exercising makes
him hot, and he decides to walk over to see what Henry and Bud are doing. They are packing a satchel with
Vaseline, tape, etc. Bud tells Alfred about a special ointment he has made to stop _____________________
and that he once had a boxer named _______________________________________, who bled very easily
when he was hit.
At one point, ___________________, the boxer who called Alfred “__________________” and
laughed at him, orders Bud to _____________________ his hands. Bud tells him he needs to learn to do it
himself. A little while later, Red orders Bud to get him a ________________________ so he can spar. When
Bud tells him that he cannot spar because neither he nor Mr. Donatelli can watch him, he becomes angry. He
throw a _____________________ at Bud, but Bud quickly deflects it and punches him in the
_______________________. Red tears up and leaves, and Bud orders the other boxers not to tell
______________________________. He says that training every day is tough and that everyone deserves a
___________________________ chance. Bud then tells Alfred that Mr. Donatelli has left a
_____________________ for him to go to see a real _____________________ match that night.
The Contender
Summarizing Chapter 7
Henry (2)
Willie Streeter
Major
Hollis
Donatelli
Spoon
Madison Square Garden
Jelly Belly
eye
boxer
Name ___________________________
technical knock out
Bud
protect
money
teacher
dog
hurt
train
Alfred and Henry arrive for the fight at _______________________________________. Alfred is amazed at the
many types of people there, from seedy looking characters to rich businessmen to gamblers in flashy clothes with
beautiful women. When they sit down, they are joined by the fat boxer named ______________________________.
Alfred had noticed him at the gym, and he seems friendly and happy. Alfred really doesn’t know what to do, so he
follows whatever ________________________ and Jelly do.
Finally Mr. Donatelli, Bud, and Dr. Corey come down the aisle with __________________________. Willie is
the boxer that Mr. Donatelli is managing. Willie gets cheers from the crowd, and he boxes well for the first few rounds.
Later in the fight, however, Willie gets a cut near his __________________. Alfred notices that he becomes less
aggressive and starts to fight defensively to ___________________________ his eye. Eventually, _________________
stops the fight, and the other boxer, Becker, wins with a TKO, a ____________________________________________.
Henry, Jelly, and Alfred make their way to the dressing room. There they witness Willie’s anger at Mr. Donatelli.
____________________ scolds Willie and tells him that Donatelli saved him from looking like a coward to the crowd.
While they are in the dressing room, Alfred meets Bill Witherspoon, nicknamed ________________________. Spoon
tells Alfred that Willie showed some ____________________, and he explains that it means that he got hurt and then got
scared. He agrees with Bud that Donatelli both saved Willie’s eye and also saved him from looking like a coward.
Spoon drives Henry and Alfred home and tells Alfred about his past. Spoon is now a
_________________________, but he once was a fairly successful ___________________________. He stopped boxing
when Mr. Donatelli said he was getting _________________________ too much. Now Spoon is married to a teacher and
is studying for his permanent teaching certificate, using the ______________________ he saved from boxing. Sometimes
he comes up to the gym and helps _______________________ the boxers when school is out.
Alfred arrives home and feels great. He even thanks _____________________ for carrying him home the night
that he was beaten. Unfortunately, only a few minutes after he arrives back in Harlem, he finds
______________________ and _____________________ waiting for him.
The Contender
Summarizing Chapter 8
boxing
clubroom
disconnect
squealer’s
Thursday
Alfred
Name ____________________________
Wednesday
knife
slave
Epsteins
Major and Hollis take Alfred to the _________________________. Once they’re inside, Major tells
Alfred that the gang is planning to break into the grocery store again the following weekend. He demands that
___________________ help them. When Alfred says no, Major says he doesn’t have to come. He says Alfred
simply has to _________________________ the alarm wires. Alfred says he won’t do it. Then Major pulls a
_______________________ and says he will give Alfred a _______________________ scar, a cut from the
mouth to the ear. Amazingly, Alfred says no again. In desperation, Major tells Alfred that he has till
______________________ to decide, that the _____________________ don’t care about him, that he is just a
_____________________ to them. Once again, Alfred says he won’t help. Major screams at him that he has
till ______________________ to change his mind. Alfred, though shaking, continues to say no and walks out
the door. He feels victorious, as if he has just won a ________________________ match.
The Contender
Rev. Price
park
Summarizing Chapter 9
excited
wave
car
boxer
gangsters
house
Name ___________________________
hurt
policemen
Alfred enjoys his run in the ___________________. Even the _______________________ yell a word
of encouragement, and other runners ____________________ at him. When he arrives back at the
apartment, Aunt Pearl questions him about where he has been. He finally tells her about his plans to be come
a _____________________. Though she seems somewhat pleased that he is finally
________________________ about something, it is clear she wishes it were something other than boxing.
She tells him that he’ll get ___________________ and that boxing is full of ________________________.
Alfred assures her that Mr. Donatelli is a good man. He even promises her that someday he will buy her a
_______________________ beside Aunt Dorothy’s and a _______________________ so she can drive to
church. Aunt Pearl replies that they will be talking to ______________________________ about this
“foolishness.”
The Contender
Summarizing Chapter 10
James (2)
Major
Donatelli
Aunt Dorothy
Spoon
weeks
training (2)
run
hot
Name ___________________________
Rev. Price
Lightning Lou Epp
crooks
party
honest
television
dinner
Henry
gym
Spoon
Aunt Pearl
routine
Alfred trains very hard for three _________________. At first, he is very tired and often falls asleep before
_______________________. His favorite time of the day is his __________________ in the morning. He loves the fresh
air and the friendships he feels with the other runners and the policemen, who wave in encouragement. At the
___________________, Bud, Donatelli, and Dr. Corey give Alfred advice, and _____________________ helps him learn
how to punch the heavy bag. At home, Aunt Dorothy is concerned and takes Alfred to see
______________________________, hoping he will tell Alfred to quit. He doesn’t tell him that, however.
At work, Alfred uses things like moving boxes and trashcans as part of his _____________________, and one day
Lou Epstein sees him throw a punch at his reflection. They begin to chat, and Alfred realizes that Lou Epstein is the
____________________________________ that Bud talked about. Lou tells Alfred that boxing is not a good idea any
longer because few people go to fights any more and it’s hard to make a living as a boxer. He tells Alfred that
____________________________ is responsible for the decline of boxing since only a few famous fighters fight over and
over. He also says that there are a lot of ________________ in the business and they don’t want to do business with an
_________________________ manager like Donatelli. Alfred continues to train, however, and he begins to love it. The
one thing he wishes is that _____________________ could return as his partner, especially in running.
Later in the summer, _________________________ goes to the summer house of her employers, and the girls go
to stay with _________________________. Alfred continues to train for six weeks. Each day is the same as the day
before. Now that summer is in full swing, the gym is incredibly _________________, and tempers begin to flare. Alfred
works hard but feels that no one notices. He feels as if ______________________ is not noticing how far he has
progressed, and that he isn’t getting the recognition he deserves for all his hard work. One day _____________________
drops into the gym and tells him that there is going to be a ____________________ in the clubroom and that
_______________________ is going to be there. _______________________ warns him that it is not a good idea to go
since Alfred is in ________________________, and he invites him to go to the movies with him and Jelly. Alfred decides
that he deserves a break from what has become a boring _____________________ will go to the party just to check things
out.
The Contender
Summarizing Chapter 11
vodka
powder
Major
orange
clubroom
James
marijuana
thin
Name _______________________
yellow
passes
wine
Arlene
running
Alfred decides to go to the party in the ________________________. When he arrives,
______________________ treats him like a long-lost friend. He encourages him to drink some
_____________________, which Alfred refuses at first. It doesn’t take long for him to begin to party. First, he
sucks on an ____________________ soaked in __________________. Then he smokes some
_______________________, encouraged to do by _____________________, the girl he has been dancing
with. When morning comes, he stumbles out of the clubroom and thinks about _____________________, but
instead he goes back to the party. New bottles of alcohol arrive, and eventually __________________ comes.
He has changed in the last weeks. His face is ___________________, and his teeth are
____________________. When Alfred tries to talk to him, James brushes him off. Alfred sees him get a
packet of white ____________________ from Hollis and realizes that James has become a heroin addict.
Alfred tries to stop James from taking it, but Alfred _________________ out before he can stop him.
The Contender
Summarizing Chapter 12
Harlem
floor
Coney Island
Aunt Pearl
Aunt Dorothy (2)
contender
Major
Cadillac
movie
Name ___________________________
Jeff
hurt
stolen
subway
Mr. Donatelli
Alfred wakes up in a cold sweat, lying on the ____________________ of his kitchen. The phone is ringing, and
_______________________ is calling to tell him that she will be home on Thursday and will pick up the girls then. She
asks him to call _______________________ in the morning before church. Alfred passes out again for the rest of the
night.
In the morning, instead of calling Aunt Dorothy, Alfred answers the phone. Major is calling to remind him that
they are going to ___________________________. Alfred drinks several cups of coffee and goes with Major, Hollis,
Sonny, and another boy. Major is driving a white _____________________, which he said he “loaned off” someone.
Once they reach Coney Island, they have to ditch the car. Major has obviously ________________ it. Everyone
jumps out of the car, and Alfred is on his own. He is hung over from the party, but he is also hungry. He buys some
greasy beach food and immediately vomits it back up. He walks around until he finds a ___________________ theater
and goes in and watches till he feels better.
He goes back to __________________ on the _________________ and walks through the familiar streets. He
sees the black nationalists, the church, and the gym. He decides to go home, realizing he cannot run in the morning due to
his sprained ankle, something he got from jumping out of the stolen Cadillac. When he gets back to the apartment, Major
calls to tell him what their alibi should be if anyone asks.
The work week begins, and it drags slowly by as Alfred no longer has any reason to be excited.
________________________ calls and invites him out to the house, but he doesn’t want to talk to _________________,
who is home from college, so he doesn’t go. By Tuesday night, he decides to give up his goal of being a boxer, so he goes
to the gym to collect his training clothes. When he goes in ________________________ is sitting in the dark. Once he
cleans out his locker, he thanks Donatelli and asks him if he thinks he would have ever made it. Donatelli says he doesn’t
know. He says a person has to decide for himself whether or not to be a ___________________. When Alfred asks him
when Donatelli would know if Alfred could succeed as a fighter, Donatelli says it would be when Alfred first gets
______________ in the ring for the first time. Donatelli says that Alfred will know at that point, too.
The Contender
Lou Epstein
sparring
Summarizing Chapter 13
cash register
money
combinations
Henry
Name __________________________
mouthpiece
trust
Alfred begins regular __________________ with the other boxers. At first he is not very good. He is
not working his _________________________ Bud tells him. Eventually he begins to think about what he is
doing, and _______________________ shows him what he is doing right.
Alfred is surprised when ________________________ visits the gym to see how he is doing. Lou and
Bud talk over old times, and Alfred sees Lou give _____________________ to Bud to pass along to one of
Lou’s old boxing friends who obviously needs the cash. Lou tells Alfred that he has gotten good reports about
his work at the grocery store and that he has decided to train him to work the
__________________________________. This decision shows that the Epsteins now
____________________ Alfred.
Alfred continues to be successful in his sparring, and Mr. Donatelli lets Alfred know that he is ready for
his first fight when he tells him it is time for a custom-made _____________________.
The Contender
Summarizing Chapter 14
robe
work
Dr. Corey’s
Aunt Pearl
eggs
tears
Henry
Spoon’s
steak
Name __________________________
gym
polio
enough
winning
night
Betty
Rivera
stick and run
books
The morning of Alfred’s first fight he gets to stay home from ______________________. He doesn’t tell
_______________________ what is going on, however. _____________________ arrives around 10:00 and
accompanies him to the ______________________, where they meet Mr. Donatelli. Donatelli takes them to
_________________________ office to pick up two mouthpieces for Alfred. Then they go to lunch, and Alfred
has a light lunch of two hard-boiled _________________, tea, and toast.
The next step in the day is to go by taxi to ________________ apartment, where Alfred will rest before
the fight. On the way over, Alfred and Henry talk about Henry’s limp, which was caused by
__________________. When they arrive at Spoon’s, Alfred is amazed by the number of
___________________ in the apartment. While Alfred and Henry talk, Alfred learns that the police raided the
clubroom and that Henry’s dad has turned it back into a storage room. Alfred has not seen
_________________ for a long time, and his parents don’t know where he is.
When Spoon and his wife, __________________, come home, they make Alfred a ________________
dinner. Alfred learns that Spoon is teaching and working on his master’s degree. Spoon tells him that he can
finish high school in ______________ school and that he should think about doing that. After dinner, Alfred
rests until it is time to leave for the fight.
Alfred’s first fight is at a small fight club for amateurs. While his is in the dressing room getting ready,
Henry gives him a ________________ with his name on the back. Alfred is touched and gets
_________________ in his eyes. When Alfred faces his opponent, ___________________, he starts to listen
to the crowd, who calls him a coward because he is fighting the way Donatelli tells him,
___________________________. He gets knocked down when he starts to listen to the crowd, but when he
goes back to fighting Donatelli’s way, he ends up ___________________ the match. In the dressing room,
Donatelli is giving him some advice when Bud and Henry tell him to leave Alfred alone, that he won. Donatelli
says, “It’s not _____________________.”
The Contender
Apollo
the twins
Summarizing Chapter 15
sinful
Lou Epstein
understands
no
Name _____________________
quit
dream
mother
After the fight, Aunt Pearl and Alfred talk. Aunt Pearl tells him that she found out about the fight
from _________________________. She begins to tell him a story about her own teenage years.
She had a chance to be a singer at the __________________ Theater. She wasn’t old enough to
sign the contract, and her ______________________ refused to sign because she said it was
___________________. Aunt Pearl and her sisters begged, but her mother refused. After that, Aunt
Pearl dated her future husband for a long time. Finally, her mother let her marry him, but he died
before ______________________ were born. Aunt Pearl _______________________ that Alfred
has to try to follow his __________________. She asks if he won, and when he says yes, she asks
him if the winning was sweet. He says _______________. When she asks if he is going to
____________________ now, he also says no.
The Contender
Summarizing Chapter 16
movies
Griffin
recreation
knock-out
cheers
James
Name _____________________
Lynn
Harold
Donatelli
Bud
blue
sick
Alfred’s fight with _________________ is much different from his fight with Rivera. Griffin is
fast, and the fight is a _______________. Henry tells him that the only way to win is with a
_________________________. Alfred is able to KO Griffin. As Griffin lies on the mat, Alfred
becomes __________________. He tries to rush over to see if he is OK.
As Alfred leaves the ring, the crowd __________________ him. In the dressing room,
_____________________ and _____________________ exchange concerned looks when all Alfred
talks about is how Griffin was just lying there in the ring.
At work the next day, he cannot concentrate, and Lou gives Alfred the day off. Alfred walks the
streets and bumps into __________________ and _________________, who are passing out
leaflets. He actually talks to them this time, and they ask him if he might be interested in working in a
______________________ center with the children of the neighborhood. All he can think about is
how much he wishes _________________ could work with him. Disgusted with how his life is going,
he jams the leaflet into the trash and heads for the ___________________.
The Contender
Summarizing Chapter 17
fix
Africa
boxing
Uncle Wilson
Jeff
money
Name _________________________
high school
Aunt Dorothy
generation
James
gym
one
At Thanksgiving dinner at, Alfred and his cousin _______________ get reacquainted. Jeff seems
genuinely interested in Alfred’s __________________. At dinner, ________________________ gets upset
that Jeff may have changed his plans to go to _______________________ and instead is thinking of working
in black neighborhoods. _________________________ calms him down and says that each
________________________________ has to find its own way. Also at dinner, Alfred says that he has
decided to finish _________________________ by going at night.
Jeff offers to drive the family home, and in the car he and Alfred discuss their future plans. Jeff accepts
Alfred’s invitation to come to the ___________________ over Christmas break. When they start up the stairs
to the apartment, Alfred sees a huddled figure. After Aunt Pearl and the girls to in, he talks to the man, who
turns out to be ___________________. Alfred tries to get him to come in, but all James wants is
_____________________ for another __________________. He tells Alfred he can quit, but he needs just
___________________ more fix. Alfred pulls out his wallet, and James takes the money and runs away.
The Contender
Summarizing Chapter 18
Griffin
Barnes
finish
draw
quit
killer
Name _____________________
booing
fight
train
hurt
During the fight with ____________________, Alfred has the chance to beat him, but each
time he has the opportunity, he keeps seeing _________________ falling to the mat. The match
ends in a ___________________, with the crowd ________________.
After the fight, Donatelli asks Alfred to come up to the gym. He tells him it’s time to
__________________. He tells Alfred that he does not have the __________________ instinct. He
says he knows Alfred does not really like __________________. Donatelli says he wants Alfred to
continue to come to the gym to help _________________ other boxers, but he doesn’t want him
fighting because he is afraid that now he will get ___________________. Alfred says he must fight
his last fight so he will be able to _____________________ what he has started.
The Contender
night school
narcotics
Alfred
Summarizing Chapter 19
Henry
smiling
cheers
Name ______________________
knows
train
Elston Hubbard
finish
count
great
Donatelli
winner
hug
On the day of Alfred’s last fight, he tries to remember everything about it. As he and Henry talk
at Spoon’s apartment, he learns that __________________ bought him his robe. He did it because
Alfred was the first fighter he got to ___________________. When Spoon and his wife come home,
they talk about Alfred’s coming enrollment in _________________________, and Spoon gives Alfred
a reading list. He also tells him that he has been able to get a spot for James in a
_______________________ clinic, but Alfred says he hasn’t seen him recently.
At the gym before the fight, _____________________ wants to cancel the fight because it is
against ____________________________. Hubbard is large and a strong fighter, and Donatelli is
afraid Alfred will get hurt. _____________________ insists on the fight, however, because he has to
know that he can _____________________ what he has started.
During the fight, Hubbard pounds Alfred, and several times Alfred hits the mat, with the ref
beginning to ____________________. Alfred hangs in, though, and makes it through the fight. At
the end, Hubbard is the __________________. Hubbard runs across the ring to
_________________ Alfred and congratulate him on a great fight. The crowd _______________ as
Alfred heads to the dressing room, and everyone is there to tell Alfred what a ______________ fight
he had even though he lost. Donatelli is _________________ and tells Alfred that now he
______________________.
The Contender
James
grocery store
Summarizing Chapter 20
cave
snow
Name _________________________
partners
help
Aunt Pearl
money
Alfred gets home, excited to tell _______________________ about his fight. Everyone had
gone out to eat and celebrate, but Aunt Pearl is upset. She tells him that the police have been there
looking for __________________. He had broken through the front glass into the
____________________________ to try to steal money. The police said he was cut badly but got
away.
Alfred runs out of the apartment and heads for the ________________ in the park, hoping that
James might be there. He is. Alfred tries to bandage the cut, but it is bleeding badly. He tells James
that he will help him kick his habit. No matter what James says, Alfred says that they are
______________________ and he will help him. He tells him about the new people in his life and
assures James that they will ________________ him, too. James asks Alfred for
_________________, but Alfred refuses. Finally, James agrees to go with Alfred to the hospital.
They walk out of the cave into the newly fallen _____________________.