“I feel like I'm one of the top guys,” said Radivoje Kalajdzic after having defeated fellow light heavyweight contender Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

“I wouldn’t say I’m the best, because I got to beat the best to say I’m the best. I don't want to get ahead of myself. But I am one of the top guys. So once I beat the top guys, [Artur] Beterbiev or [Dmitry] Bivol – I fought Beterbiev [in a 2019 knockout loss], but I wasn't ready when I fought him – let’s say if I beat Bivol or [David] Benavidez, then I’d say I’m the best. But I am for sure one of the top guys.”

Kalajdzic, now 30-3 (22 KOs), thinks the division’s top spot is between Bivol and Beterbiev and cannot be claimed by Benavidez, as he hasn’t faced either. The two Russians Bivol and Beterbiev are tied at one apiece, having boxed twice.

“I would like Bivol,” Kalajdzic said when asked for his preference.

Would that fight be possible given Bivol’s ties to Matchroom?

“I mean, this is boxing,” Kalajdzic said. “Anything can happen. So, I mean, it is possible, you know. We’ll see what the future holds.”

His own future is far more appealing now than it would have been had he not pulled off his stunning win last week.

“I needed this win or I would have been sent back again,” Kalajdzic said. “But I didn't think of it, if I lose I'm done with boxing, because I still love to do this sport. But just a loss would have sent me back, big time. And now I’m ranked good again. My name has been in the mix, and I’m going to probably get big fights.”

He also hopes to get some activity.

“So if I can get the big name, still just keep, hopefully I fight within three, four months, just staying active,” Kalajdzic said. “That’s the key. And I think that’s one of the things that made me look the way I did the first six rounds of the fight, because I didn’t believe in ring rust. But I was like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ Like, ‘I can’t find my rhythm, can’t land the punch.’ I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ So I was like, ‘OK, let’s take it round by round, slow things down.’ So, yeah, the best thing for me, if I can get a big name, is just stay active.”

For “Hot Rod,” he still has modest ambitions and they are based around his enjoyment of the sport.

Now 34, Kalajdzic is enjoying his work.

“I’m doing this because I love it and I’m getting paid good,” he said. “If the title comes, it comes. But I’m having fun doing it.”

Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.