O’Shaquie Foster was an inmate at a correctional facility in his hometown of Orange, Texas in August 2017.

Foster felt abandoned by people he thought were his friends and wondered what would come of his boxing career after suffering two televised decision defeats during an eight-month span in 2015 and 2016. Foster finally realized he was wasting his talent while he watched on a small TV as Terence Crawford knocked out Julius Indongo to become boxing’s first undisputed 140-pound champion of the four-belt era.

“You know, something just clicked in my mind where I just said, ‘I can do this,’ ” Foster told BoxingScene.com. “I’ve always been one of the most talented guys in the amateurs. I just got away from my work ethic. I knew if I started putting in the work that, you know, the results would show.”

Foster was released after four months of incarceration once his original charge of attempted murder was lowered to aggravated assault. Had he been convicted of attempted murder, Foster, then 24, would’ve served between 10 and 20 years in prison, which would’ve all but ended his boxing career.

A thankful Foster remains on probation. Five years after his release, however, he’ll attempt to become a world champion Saturday night at Alamodome in San Antonio.

Foster, 29, will meet Mexico’s Rey Vargas in a 12-round fight for the unclaimed WBC super featherweight title. Showtime will televise the Vargas-Foster fight as the main event of a three-bout broadcast scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET.

Knowing he is in position to inspire people who will watch his televised title fight is nothing short of an astounding turnaround for Foster, who stopped boxing for over a year after an eight-round, split-decision defeat to Ronaldo Chinea in July 2016.

“It was one of those things where I just gave up on it for a while and went to the streets,” said Foster, who will end a 10½-month layoff versus Vargas. “Then when I got locked up, it just opened my eyes. It let me know that there was something bigger out there for me. I just wanted to drop everything and give it all I’ve got before, you know, it was too late.”

His manager, Keith Mills, and his younger brother, Damarius Champine, have strongly supported Foster throughout his comeback.

“I was just in the streets real heavy and getting into a lotta things,” Foster recalled. “When I went to jail, I realized nobody was there for me but my manager and my little brother. … I realized I only had a couple people in this world. So, that’s when I went head-first with the boxing and forgot everything else.”

Foster (19-2, 11 KOs), who works with trainer Bobby Benton in Houston, has won nine fights in a row since he resumed his career in December 2017. He earned this title shot by beating Tajikistan’s Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov (19-1, 10 KOs) unanimously in his most recent bout, a 12-round WBC super featherweight elimination match March 18 in Dubai.

Most sportsbooks slightly favor Vargas (36-0, 22 KOs), a two-weight world champion who won the WBC featherweight title in his last fight. The 32-year-old Vargas opted to move up four pounds to face Foster instead of making the first defense of the 126-pound crown he won when he edged the Philippines’ Mark Magsayo (24-1, 16 KOs) by split decision in their 12-rounder July 9 at Alamodome.

Vargas is the most accomplished opponent of Foster’s 10-year professional career, but the versatile contender is unfazed.

“Honestly, if I go in there and be me,” Foster said, “and just do what I do, it’ll be a good night, where I can bring the title home.”

 If Foster becomes a world champion five years after his imprisonment, it’ll punctuate one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent boxing history.

“Words can’t even describe, you know, the turnaround and everything I went through to be in this position,” Foster said. “To become a world champion and change my family’s life, words can’t even explain how it’ll feel. I’m just grinding hard and getting ready for that opportunity.

“I think about it all the time, but I don’t think it’ll really hit me until I win the title. That’s my ultimate goal. I just wanna live up to my potential. Just getting that world title, it’s definitely gonna bring out all the emotions of everything I’ve been through.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.