As soon as Terence Crawford produced a career-best win over Canelo Alvarez, the boxing world had one question: Who's next?

Although many have their opinions on what Crawford should do, former unified light heavyweight beltholder Sergey Kovalev has the perfect matchup for the newly crowned undisputed super middleweight champion.

"[Dmitry] Bivol," Kovalev told Seconds Out during a recent interview. "It would be very interesting to watch this fight. They should do this, the world would be happy to see it."

Needless to say, there are a ton of moving parts that have to fall into place before a Crawford-Bivol matchup can happen.

For starters, Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) needs to get healthy. After losing to Artur Beterbiev in October 2024, the Russian star avenged defeat in an immediate rematch four months later.

The two were expected to settle their rivalry with a third consecutive matchup, first in Saudi Arabia and then their native Russia, before the 34-year-old Bivol underwent back surgery on a nagging issue that worsened during training over the summer months. Although there's no timetable for his return, The Ring's No. 4 pound-for-pound boxer is on the road to recovery.

Once he returns, the unified titleholder could decide to finish his Beterbiev rivalry or chase elevated WBC beltholder David Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) in an attempt to become a two-time undisputed divisional champion after vacating the WBC belt earlier this year.

For what it’s worth, when Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) was the top dog at 168-pounds, Bivol told all who would listen that he'd be open to a rematch at Canelo's more natural weight after outpointing him to defend his WBO crown in May 2022. That never materialized.

Bivol could entertain another move down in weight to face Crawford, but the question is whether Crawford, a five-division world champion, will stick around long enough for that to happen.

The 37-year-old was non-committal in his future plans and flirted with potentially making a run at middleweight recently. His trainer, Brian 'BoMac' McIntyre, told The Ring that his charge is unlikely to make any decisions before early 2026 and instead has earned the right to enjoy a victory shown to over 41 million fans who streamed it on Netflix last weekend.

Kovalev, who retired earlier this year, is still in awe of Crawford's showing.

"I thought it would be very difficult for him to get the victory because of the weight, but Terence showed a perfect performance, adapted very well to a new weight division. Congratulations to him," he said.