Former WBC featherweight champion Mark Magsayo will face Andres Cortes in a 10-round lightweight bout on the Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn card on September 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The bout opens the main card and keeps two Zuffa Boxing fighters on one of the promotion’s biggest events. Both are promoted by Zuffa.
Magsayo (29-2, 19 KOs) has already competed at lightweight, beating Feargal McCrory in his previous appearance. The 31-year-old spent most of his career at featherweight before moving through junior lightweight and eventually reaching 135.
Cortes (25-0, 13 KOs) has a perfect record, though the 29-year-old has looked vulnerable in recent outings. Difficult fights against Eridson Garcia and Abraham Nova leave him positioned as a fringe lightweight contender rather than one of the elite names in the division.
Matching Cortes with Magsayo gives him a well-known opponent with former world champion credentials. Magsayo defeated Gary Russell Jr. for the WBC featherweight title in January 2022 before losing the belt to Rey Vargas six months later.
Before joining Zuffa Boxing, Cortes fought under the Top Rank banner. He beat Garcia in April on a Zuffa card, though the performance did little to strengthen his standing at lightweight.
Sam Gordon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal first reported on August 5 that Cortes and Magsayo were finalizing a deal to meet on the Garcia-Benn undercard. The matchup has since been officially announced.
Ryan Garcia faces Conor Benn in the welterweight main event on September 12. Jai Opetaia is scheduled to meet Noel Mikaelian in the cruiserweight co-feature