Well, the 29-year-old hopes to seize his chance when he takes on former featherweight champion Mark Magsayo Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. Their about takes place on the undercard of the WBC lightweight title clash between Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn, live on Paramount+ in the US and DAZN PPV in the UK and Ireland.

Las Vegas' Cortes knows he can use Magsayo, who ended Gary Russell Jr.'s WBC 126-pound title reign in 2021, to make a name for himself.

“This is a good fight to get more eyes on me,” Cortes told The Ring. “Magsayo is a good fighter with a good name, so beating him would get me more attention. Everyone needs to be paying attention to me. I’m the real deal.”

After back-to-back losses to Rey Vargas and Brandon Figueroa, Magsayo (29-2, 19 KOs) has been on a run, winning five straight with three of those victories coming via stoppage.

Cortes, though, isn’t worried about what the former champion brings to the table. The lightweight contender is coming off a unanimous decision win against Eridson Garcia on April 5.

While he doesn’t want to overlook Magsayo, Cortes (25-0, 13 KOs) knows what’s possibly on the other side of a convincing victory.

“I’m not far from winning one of those belts,” Cortes said.

“I will be fighting one of those champions soon and those belts will be coming back with me. It doesn’t really matter who I fight. Whenever I get the opportunity first is where I’ll go. Once I get the chance, I won’t waste it. My time is coming and I don’t care who’s standing in my way.

"I know I have a little bit more to prove, but beating Magsayo will go a long way toward showing that I’m an elite fighter at 135 pounds. I plan on being here for a long time.”