Joe Smith Jr. (26-3, 21 KOs) has praised WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (17-0, 11 KOs), calling him the best he has ever stepped into the ring with and perhaps the best boxer today.
Smith has been fortunate enough to work around the COVID-19 pandemic better than a lot of fighters this year, squeezing in a 10-round split decision over fellow American Jesse Hart at the top of 2020 before knocking out Colombia's Eleider Alvarez inside the MGM Grand "bubble" in August.
Those two victories were the New Yorker's bounce-back from a unanimous decision defeat to Russia's Bivol in March 2019, and one more win should put him in line for a second crack at world honours.
In a recent interview with Sky Sports, "The Irish Bomber" ran the rule over his potential future opponents at light heavyweight.
"Dmitry Bivol is, by far, the best fighter I have faced. I think he's the best out there at the moment, he is a very good fighter," Smith said.
"Hopefully I can get back in there and redeem myself against him.
"I learned a lot, I've been improving and, after another fight, I would be ready to go again with him.
"He was loose. When I was loading up, he capitalised and beat me to the punch."
Two other light-heavyweight contenders linked to a fight with Smith are Britain's Anthony Yarde and Callum Johnson. Johnson was at one point linked to a clash with Smith, but it never materialised.
"I saw Yarde fight [Sergey] Kovalev. I feel like he doesn't have much boxing experience," said Smith. "From what I've seen, he's just a big, strong guy. There is some talent there.
"Callum Johnson? Another strong guy. I saw him fight Sean Monaghan, who he destroyed.
"I've heard his name a few times. If that fight was in the making, it wasn't on my side!
"Everybody wants a shot at me but I need to get that title first."
During the interview, Smith also reflected on his big win over the legendary Bernard Hopkins in what proved to be the evergreen former world champion's final professional bout at the age of 51.
"Everyone, going into the fight, was saying I can't box and I just got lucky by landing a big punch [to knock out Andrzej Fonfara in his previous fight]", the 31-year-old recalled.
"Hopkins was underestimating me, big time. I shocked everybody for a second time. He had a couple of good moments in the fight. I was trying to rush him, looking for the knockout, but I was running in towards him too much.
"He took a step back and hit me with a double right hand. He hit me twice. I thought: 'Take a second, relax, stop rushing'. He is a crafty guy. You can't make any mistakes with him or he will capitalise on it."