Ahmad Mickens saw something special when Chordale Booker first entered his gym at 18-year-old. Not long after he had him write down a list of goals.  

Booker may accomplish one of those goals on Saturday by becoming a world titleholder. 

Booker will face the WBO and WBC junior middleweight titleholder Sebastian Fundora at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. 

Booker, now 33, entered not long after Mickens started his gym in Stanford, Connecticut. Mickens, who is originally from New Jersey, was still a pro boxer at the time, finishing his career in March of 2012 with a record of 1-2-1. 

Booker, 23-1 (11 KOs), began his boxing journey by taking regular boxing classes of the sort that anyone could take. 

“He came in and he was taking just the adult classes and stuff like that,” Mickens said. “Then after the adult classes he would stay and I would be in the gym until 10 o'clock at night with him. Every time I had a moment, he would come and ask me questions and I would give him pointers.”

Mickens began to find it strange. Booker hadn’t approached him about being a fighter, but also was spending a lot of time in the gym. Eventually, the two had the conversation about Booker competing. Given that Booker started at what is considered a later age, the odds were already against him, something he faces when he fights Fundora. Mickens started by having Booker enter a sparring show that he held at his gym. The shows served as a test to see a fighter’s level of interest in the sport, but in a controlled and safe environment. 

That first exhibition tested the character and love of the sport for Booker. After a good first round, he had a rough second round. Mickens recalls the conversation between rounds. 

“He got destroyed in the second round and I remember him coming back to the corner after the second round and I told him that his family and friends were there,” Mickens said. “I told him to make it a respectable fight. I told him to show some pride, really go out there and give an effort. He went out and had a really good third round.”

Mickens had another test on his hands: Would Booker return to the gym? 

“This kid can be special, but I wanted to see if he was going to come back to the gym after he lost the fight,” Mickens said. “He was crying. He was upset after the fight. The next week he showed up. I knew he is the real deal.”

“I had him write down his goals. I'm a big believer in that,” Mickens said. One of those goals was becoming a world titleholder, something he could achieve this weekend. 

The journey has been long. They went on to win the Connecticut Golden Gloves, winning their first national tournament when Booker went from a novice amateur boxer to the open division (novice amateur boxers have 10 fights or less; open is anything above that). He would make it to the 2016 Olympic Trials, losing to eventual Olympian Charles Conwell.

Now, they have a new challenge in Fundora, who stands 6ft 6ins and still makes the junior middleweight division. Fundora, 21-1-1 (13 KOs), defeated Tim Tszyu via split-decision last March and with it won two titles. Fundora, the 27-year-old from Coachella, California, is a tall southpaw who throws a lot of punches and took the Tszyu fight on short-notice after Keith Thurman had to withdraw from the fight. When asked if Booker might have to go back to that first fight where he rallied back in the third round, Mickens was quick to offer his thoughts. 

“That would be ironic,” Mickens said when it was brought up. “He has been through so many things to get to this point. I always have a saying, ‘everything you go through, everything you've done, has prepared you for this next moment.’ He's prepared for this next moment.”

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.