Edwin De Los Santos wasn’t interested in a soft touch for his first fight in the United States.

The message was received loud and clear by his team. Sampson Lewkowicz, De Los Santos’ promoter—and one of the best in the sport at discovering world-class talent—and manager Antonio Tineo Sr. came with a fellow unbeaten junior lightweight prospect in William Foster III (13-0, 9KOs), whom De Los Santos will face as part of Showtime’s ‘ShoBox’ tripleheader this Friday from Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.

“They presented me with the opportunity to face (Foster). I accepted it,” De Los Santos told BoxingScene.com in the simplicity of piecing together the fight. “I’m a warrior, I don’t back down from anyone. That is why I wanted this fight. This is a chance for me to show people who I am, I was very excited to hear about this opportunity for my first fight in the U.S."

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It’s a step up in class for De Los Santos (13-0, 12KOs), coming in his first career fight outside of his native Dominican Republic. The 22-year-old southpaw from Santo Domingo has yet to take on an opponent with anywhere near the skill level or accomplishments of Foster, a former amateur standout from New Haven, Connecticut who garnered attention following his mild upset win over towering 6’0” prospect Donald Smith (10-0 at the time) last February in his opponent’s Philadelphia hometown.

Foster enters the ring as a -175 betting favorite according to BetMGM sportsbook, undoubtedly as the more established of the two fighters.

“It is a great opportunity to fight on Showtime and against an opponent like William Foster," notes De Los Santos. "He is a great boxer. The greater the opponent, the better that I perform in the ring.”

De Los Santos-Foster opens a three-fight Showtime telecast featuring six unbeaten prospects. Headlining the show, De Los Santos’ countryman and stablemate Luis ‘The Twist’ Nunez (15-0, 11KOs) faces Puerto Rico’s Carlos Arrieta (14-0, 8KOs) in a scheduled ten-round featherweight contest.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox