Most boxers will tell you the hardest part of life is outside the ring. For O’Shaquie Foster, that fact is more apparent than for most.

The WBC super featherweight champion, who recently made a bold pound-for-pound claim, told KO On SI that his return to the ring after incarceration required changing his surroundings and mentality. Those changes took time.

Foster now prepares to face the toughest test of his career. Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete is a rangy fighter who throws unexpected punches from unexpected angles. The two are set to meet in a three-belt super featherweight unification bout on October 24 in San Antonio.

For many boxing fans, on paper, this is the fight of the year.

“Because even when I got out, everything still ain’t switched as far as my mentality,” Foster said.

Foster’s difficult period included incarceration in 2017 and temporary FEMA housing after Hurricane Harvey, circumstances he has discussed in previous interviews. In our conversation, he focused on the work required to move past life’s trauma and start again.

Foster found god

“I had to basically find God,” Foster said. “I had to do some things different.”

His new outlook was under siege as he struggled financially and remained around familiar people and situations.

“Because we can say the mentality changed, but, like, sometimes it always revert back, especially if you ain’t making the money,” he said describing the atavistic pull of his former life.

A win over Navarrete will lead him to more big-money fights in the future. But this moment and many like it were elusive when he started his path back into professional boxing.

Foster credited Keith Miller, his manager, with helping him make that transition and said eventually he was able to distance himself from negative energy.

“And that’s when my career started taking off,” he said. Miller looked on passively as Foster made those comments.

Asked whether that struggle had been harder than boxing, Foster did not hesitate. “The easy part is boxing. This is the easy part, man.”

He explained that distractions outside the sport can be harder to manage than the demands of his profession. A renewed commitment to personal probity has allowed him to build a quiet life away from boxing. He spends time with his family, follows basketball and football, and occasionally plays NBA 2K to relax, he says.

“Just thanking God that I’m here every day, man,” he said. “I just go with the flow every day…I get to do what I love, you know what I mean, and make money doing it.”