Fighter of the Week (9/4-9/10): William Foster III

On a quiet weekend of boxing, there was a mid-week prospect-loaded card in Florida that featured what appeared, on paper, to be a 50/50ish type of fight. A pair of 130-pound prospects who needed the win in a major way. In what was supposed to be an evenish kind of fight, one man, "The Silent Assassin" William Foster III of New Haven, Connecticut, turned into an absolutely one-sided beatdown in taking apart Misael Lopez on his way to scoring a 9th-round TKO, moving his record to 16-0 (10), pick up the biggest win of his career and take home our Fighter of the Week award as well as putting himself in the world title picture at 130-pounds.

ProboxTV's series that airs every other Wednesday for the past year plus, does not miss, and neither did William "Silent Assassin" Foster of New Haven, Connecticut. The co-main event, on paper, appeared to be the fight of the night from a competitive and entertainment standpoint. It looked to be a 50-50ish sort of fight until the bell rang, and then it became Foster time as the Connecticuter dominated the scheduled 10-round super featherweight affair with Misael Lopez. Foster scored with some big right hand midway in the first that snapped the head back of Lopez and drove him into the ropes. A minute later, he backed Lopez into the ropes with a right again. Both combatants kept up a quick pace, in the second and traded big rights in the last minute of the second. However, Fosters had more gusto on his. He scored with a few more right hands for good measure. "The Silent Assassin "was clearly getting the best of it. The right hand over the top was money all night for Foster. However, a left hook staggered Lopez in the 3rd, and the right hand floored him moments later. Lopez beat the count, however. The fighter was on the prow and looking to end it in the third as he predicted and rallied to close the third and nearly got the stoppage. Lopez rallied back in the fifth with solid work on the inside, landing in combinations, causing Foster to shell up at times and show some life in the fifth and sixth. That momentum was completely halted in the seventh. Foster, again, was backing his outgunned opponent into the ropes and scoring at will with the right. A right uppercut again staggered Lopez midway through the 8th. A left hook, right-hand combination dropped Lopez right at the end of the eighth. The corner should have stopped the fight in between rounds. However they allowed their warrior back out, and the only question heading into the final two rounds was could Lopez survive to the final bell? The end came abruptly moments later. A right hand, dropped Lopez again, a jab to the body, set up the right hand to the head, and Foster rallied and registered his third knockdown. The ref in charge allowed a noticeably hurt Lopez to continue but clearly had him on a short leash. The Connecticuter scored with one more big hand, and the ref waved it off a minute into the ninth to move his record to 16-0 (10).

If 2022 was a good year for Foster, which it was, scoring victories over Avery Sparrow and Edwin De Los Santos, then 2023 is off to a phenomenal start with the win over Lopez. The New Haven native took the fight coming off a 14-month layoff and performed like that. Foster, is already 29 years old and certainly appeared ready for a major step up. He is managed by the same team, DKO Boxing, as Edward Vazquez, who will fight for the IBF title in November. Could that be a possible opponent, should Vazquez win? If not, fights with the likes of Thomas Mattice, Abraham Nova, or Michael Magnesi would all be big fights that would then put"The Silent Assassin" into the position to fight for a title next.