Here was a tall southpaw armed with the ability to drop or stop any lightweight he hit cleanly.

Chamberlain made a slow, steady rise through the ranks until early 2024 when catching Turki Alalshikh's eye. An unexpected Saudi Arabia trip followed, featuring on the Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou undercard.

Catapulted into the limelight, the Portsmouth man seized his moment and stopped former European champion Gavin Gwynne in four impressive rounds. Two months later, he was back in Riyadh to dismiss Joshua Wahab inside three minutes.

Those who don't watch prospects develop closely overlooked Chamberlain's work, patronisingly describing him as 'Turki's favourite' and ran with that theme until a stale showing as he lost over 10 rounds to Josh Padley at Wembley in September 2024.

They wrote him off as a nice story, moving swiftly to the next.

Chamberlain (17-1-1, 12 KOs) hasn't gone anywhere.

This Saturday, the 27-year-old fights Pierce O'Leary (19-0, 11 KOs) in Dublin atop a Queensberry show on DAZN knowing a win over The Ring's No. 9 junior welterweight will put him right back centre of conversations.

"It all stemmed from there, really," he told The Ring remembering his unexpected first trip to the Middle East.

"It's hard, not just for me, but whether you're a professional boxer, really good bricklayer, painter, builder ... someone always has got something [negative] to say about you. Whether it's in sport, construction or whatever.

"You're always going to have people commenting and saying, 'He could have done this' or 'You don't deserve that'. It's all jealousy and it's just a cruel world we live in really."

That defeat by Padley was Chamberlain's lone off-night since turning professional in 2018 but seems to have cast a shadow over everything he did before or has done since. omeone's got something to say about anything you do.”

Nobody has handled the tough Gwynne like Chamberlain managed. Nobody has stood up to the relentless Jack Rafferty the way he did during their exciting back-and-forth draw in August.

His performance last summer earned him a shot at another of the promotional company's in-form hopefuls; heavy-handed O'Leary. The fight was set for March but Chamberlain withdrew after suffering a serious chest infection.

At their June press conference, a confident O'Leary doubted Chamberlain's reasons for withdrawing first time around and didn't hesitate to let him know: the visitor's best chance of victory had slipped away.

"I think he's got a bit of a bee in his bonnet," Chamberlain said.

"I don't know why, maybe he thinks I pulled out because I was scared, but I was ill. Even if it's the biggest fight of your life, a big night, we can come again, get yourself better.

"I'm expecting the old, 'I just want to thank Mark for turning up this time' and all that but this [withdrawal criticism] is all a load of rubbish.

"I told him I'd be there. I ain't got a bad word to say about the fella. I don't know him, but know we're getting there and gonna have a fight."

Chamberlain is going into the biggest fight of his life with a souped-up training team.

He and his longtime trainer Jarred Partridge have brought Azza Woodcock into their orbit and also begun spending more time alongside the all-star cast at Ben Davison's Performance Center.

If successful this Saturday, Chamberlain should find himself back on the biggest of stages and wants to ensure he remains there.

"It's great [his training situation], I can't thank Ben and Azza enough for letting me be in the gym around them boys," he said.

"I needed to get out of my comfort zone, be in the gym with elite fighters. I'm doing my sparring and then jumping on the bag to cool down but then I've got Moses [Itauma] on the bag on the other side of me doing his work with Luke [McCormack], then you've got Leigh Wood over there.

"The gym's just thriving with elite fighters and that's what I need."