LAS VEGAS – Chordale Booker learned a lot about people, no one more than himself, after Austin “Ammo” Williams stopped him in the first round almost three years ago at Madison Square Garden.

Countless supposed supporters turned their backs on the previously unbeaten Booker. Williams' surprisingly easy win transformed him from a future champ to a washed-up chump.

The southpaw from Stamford, Connecticut knew working his way back from such a devastating defeat would be difficult. What Booker didn’t understand was how fulfilling the process that led him to his first world title fight Saturday night would become.

The 33-year-old Booker (23-1, 11 KOs) will battle Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) in the 12-round main event of a tripleheader Amazon’s Prime Video will stream from Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena (8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. PT). DraftKings lists the 6-foot-6 Fundora, who will defend his WBC and WBO 154-pound crowns, as a 14-1 favorite over Booker.

A thankful Booker nevertheless reflected upon his unusual journey toward this opportunity to right what went wrong in April 2022 during an expansive interview with The Ring.

“Man, I got smoked,” Booker recalled. “Back home, Connecticut is loving me. But man, when I lost, I had people coming out the woodwork saying I was a bum, I told you so, this dude ain’t sh*t. You start to realize, like, ‘Oh, well, I guess everybody wasn’t supporting me how I thought.’

“Some people were just waiting for me to lose. That’s just kinda how life goes. I’m OK with it. It actually made me better as a mentor, too, because I was able to share my experience with [the] children [I mentor]. Everybody’s not gonna be your friend. And everybody’s not gonna pat you on the back.”

Booker realized along the way that some of the intense criticism he endured wasn’t even all that personal. There are hateful fans, worst of all on X, that troll fighters for the strange sake of piling on when someone is at his or her most vulnerable.

“Some people just wanna see you do bad because they’re not doing anything with their life,” Booker said. “Or they just don’t like you. Some people might not like that I have a beard. Or they don’t like the shoes I wore to the ring. Losing helped me become a better me, a better mentor, a better competitor.

“It made me more fierce. It made me more thoughtful. It made me better in many ways, not just competition only. I think it made me take a step back, look at myself, make adjustments in my life to be a better person, a better fighter, a better listener, just so many aspects. I’ve transformed that into a win for myself.”

Booker is the WBO’s No. 5 contender for one of Fundora’s 154-pound championships. He is also ranked 13th by the WBC.

Fundora owns two titles, but he is ranked fifth among The Ring’s top 10 junior middleweights. Booker isn’t listed among The Ring’s top 10 in the 154-pound division.

The resilient Booker has won six fights in a row since Williams beat him. He realizes, of course, that nothing short of defeating Fundora will encourage unforgiving fans to define his career by Booker’s loss to Williams.

“That fight really wasn’t me and I’m gonna show everybody why come March 22nd,” Booker said. “It wasn’t so much what went wrong the night of the fight. It was more just leading up to it. I had a lotta things going on. I never make excuses, so I don’t wanna start now.”