Lenier Pero has just eight fights on his professional record, but the Cuban heavyweight believes he is ready for opponents with much more professional experience than him.

Pero’s plan is to prove exactly that by beating undefeated Ukrainian Viktor Faust in their 10-round fight Saturday night in San Antonio. Showtime will televise Pero-Faust as the opener of a three-bout broadcast from Alamodome (9 p.m. ET).

“He’s a good fighter,” Pero told BoxingScene.com through a translator before a press conference Thursday at the San Antonio Westin North. “He’s undefeated. And I look forward to using this fight as a stepping stone to keep advancing and looking to even bigger goals in the future.”

The Faust fight represents Pero’s first television exposure to an American audience, an opportunity the 30-year-old prospect realizes he cannot afford to waste.

“I’ve come here to do a complete job,” Pero said, “and to show why PBC put their trust in me and put me in this position. I wanna give the fans a show and just prove that I can steal the show Saturday.”

Faust (11-0, 7 KOs), who is also 30, is most known for his wild slugfest against Iago Kiladze in January 2022. The 6-foot-5, 233-pound Faust dropped Kiladze twice in the first round and overcame knockdowns in the first and second rounds to drop and stop Kiladze in the second round of an eight-rounder at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

“It was such a crazy fight that I couldn’t truly come away with a conclusion or grasp of what happened,” Pero recalled. “I thought the referee [Samuel Burgos] rushed to judgment a little bit to stop the fight, but it was so unusual that all I can tell you is each fight is different. My fight with Faust is definitely gonna be different than the one we saw [with Kiladze].”

Pero (8-0, 5 KOs) beat an undefeated fighter, fellow Cuban Geovany Bruzon, by unanimous decision in an eight-rounder on the same undercard as when Faust stopped Kiladze. The southpaw thinks defeating Faust will demonstrate his readiness for a contender.

“I actually faced the majority of fighters in my division when I was an amateur,” said Pero, who was stopped by Filip Hrgovic at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. “All I would say is me and my team, we’re really glad how everything is turning out in my career. I can face anybody. I don’t have any preference. Bring on anybody. I’ll be ready.”

Showtime will air two fights following Pero-Faust on Saturday night.

Mexico’s Rey Vargas (36-0, 22 KOs), who owns the WBC featherweight title, and O’Shaquie Foster (19-2, 11 KOs), of Orange, Texas, will square off in the 12-round main event for the vacant WBC super featherweight crown. San Antonio’s Mario Barrios (26-2, 17 KOs) and Puerto Rico’s Jovanie Santiago (14-2-1, 10 KOs) are scheduled to meet in the co-feature, a 10-round welterweight fight.

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