How could Alfred persuade James to become a contender in the book the contender?

he never really convinces her that its a good idea, he just tells her he like it, she still thinks that its not good and is foolish, also he tells her that he will be able to buy her a car and a house some day when he goes pro, but at the end she says that the reason she lets him do it is because if she stops it he will just o soomething else like it or worse, and another reason is because she wanted to be a singing show girl but her mom wouldnt let her so she wants to let alfred box hope this helped