Michael Seals has an answer for fellow light heavyweight contender Jesse Hart’s recent call out for a fight between them: Bring it on.

“Out of nowhere he’s just saying my name,” Seals told BoxingScene.com. “I guess he thinks I’m just easy pickings or something because of my last fight, but he’ll find out. He can sign the contract now. I don’t even care about anything. We can do it whenever.”

Earlier this month, Hart told BoxingScene that five months after badly injuring his right hand in a split decision loss to Joe Smith Jr. on Jan. 11 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, he finally had surgery to repair a torn ligament and tendon damage with the surgery having been postponed from late February until this month because of the hospital’s limitations on non-emergency surgery due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Hart (26-3, 21 KOs), 30, of Philadelphia, then said he had an idea for what would make for an interesting ring return: a showdown with fellow Top Rank fighter Seals, who, one week following Hart’s loss to Smith, got knocked out in the seventh round by former world titlist Eleider “Storm” Alvarez on Jan. 18 in Verona, New York.

“Me and Michael Seals both lost, so us fighting each other is a fair thing to do,” Hart said. “He lost, I lost. It makes sense. It’s like the losers bracket kind of thing. We’re both trying to get back and Michael Seals has dynamite in his hands.”

Seals (24-3, 18 KOs), 37, of the Atlanta suburb of Fairburn, Georgia, read Hart’s comments and was intrigued. He said that whenever Hart’s hand is healed and he can return to the ring – likely around September – he’d be more than willing to fight him.

“I’m interested in anybody who’s saying my name,” Seals said. “I respect all of them, man, but I don’t fear anybody. Even before my last fight I was talking about (fighting world champion Artur) Beterbiev and he’s the boogeyman. I want the best fights. I want something that’s gonna bring the best out of me. (Hart) was very respectful but I’m just saying the light heavyweight division is stacked so why are you saying my name? You think it’s easy. Only time a person calls your name out like that is if they think it’s easy work or huge money.

“I was calling Beterbiev because he’s a world champion and I want to be a world champion and he has something I want. But for you to just call my name for no reason? I have boatloads of respect for Jesse Hart. I don’t have any ill feelings to him but I’m a competitor and I love to compete. So I’m down for it. Just send the contract, bro. I’ll be ready when he’s ready.”

Seals believes it would be an entertaining fight as well.

“I’m already in the gym. If (Top Rank chairman) Bob (Arum) sees fit for me to fight before (Hart) is ready to fight I’m down for that. Whatever Bob wants to do with me I’m fine with it. If he wants me to fight one of two more times (before Hart) I’m ready. It would be action packed. If he’s up for the task it will be exciting. I am f------ bringing it.”

Seals, who played linebacker in college at Alabama A&M University, said he understands that Hart had a hand injury in his loss to Smith but pointed out that he was also dealing with a medical situation against Alvarez.

He went into the fight with four bone spurs pressing on his spine, which led to numbness in his hands and arms as well as overall weakness. He said he had surgery in March to have the bone spurs removed.

The bone spurs, Seals said, were an issue also going into his October fight against Elio Trosch, whom he knocked out in spectacular fashion in the first round.

“I had surgery too,” Seals said. “(Hart) was talking about how his hand was hurt. Try fighting at a world class level and both of your hands are numb because you have bone spurs pressing down on your spine and you can’t even do a pushup. You face plant every time you try to do a pushup. That’s no excuse. I had spinal problems. I had bone spurs on my spine and I had surgery."

Alvarez said the bone spur issue first flared up in preparation for the fight with Trosch before also giving him issues preparing for the fight with Alvarez.

“I am thinking during camp it would go away but it got progressively worse and I was walking around at like 7 or 8 (on a 10-scale) in pain. Constant, never letting up,” Seals said. “But that’s neither here nor there. Eleider is a hell of a fighter. He’s a former world champion. I’m not taking anything away from him. That was my decision to go through with the fight because of the competitor I am and I thought I could figure it out. Like, I can win this, I can figure this out. I am not making an excuse or saying Eleider is not as good as he is. But as long as I am the best me I will beat anybody.

“It started with the Trosch fight but wasn’t as bad. In my next camp (for Alvarez) I thought it would get better but it got worse. When I fought Elio it was a 4 or 5 in pain. Nagging. A nagging pain. As the camp went on for Eleider I was sleeping like two hours a night because of the pain.”

Seals said he is healthy now and physically fine and ready to fight as soon as Top Rank gives him the word.

“I can do 100 pushups without stopping. Before that I couldn’t double up a jab,” Seals said. “Everything was slower, weaker. Now I am 110 percent. I feel like a new man.”

Whether Top Rank elects to match Seals and Hart remains to be seen but Seals is paying close attention to the rest of the talent-rich division, hoping to land a meaningful fight.

He will be paying especially close attention to the world title eliminator on tap for July 16 on ESPN when Alvarez and Smith are due to meet.

“I’m a boxing enthusiast, so I pay attention to 175, 168, cruiserweight and 160 because all those guys can move up or down and challenge me,” Seals said. “So I’m looking at anybody close to my weight class.”

As for Alvarez-Smith, he is said it’s a pick ‘em fight.

“It depends which guy shows up,” Seals said. “As far as skills, Alvarez all day. But the will, the aggression, the power, it’s Joe Smith. I know that’s crazy for me to say because I got f------ knocked out by Alvarez but I will say this: I did not see that shot. That shot fell out of the sky. If you don’t see the punch, a little kid could knock you out. I did not see that shot.”

Seals’ dream fight remains against Beterbiev but he would also like to fight Smith at some point.

“Alvarez moved a lot and was a boxer. I couldn’t get to him. But Beterbiev I know he’s coming to fight and both of us have dynamite in both hands,” Seals said. “I’m willing to go out on my shield. In my two losses by knockout (also in a three-round firefight with Edwin Rodriguez in 2015) I went out on my shield. I’m not just surviving. I think that would be a great fight.

“Another fight (I want) is Joe Smith. I really like Joe Smith. I like fan-pleasing fights and if a guy is bringing it like Joe Smith can bring the heat, I will oblige, so it’s gonna be a fantastic fight like it would be with Beterbiev for however long it lasts. Joe Smith is a great guy. We got to talking in New York at the press conference (last fall to announce the January fights). It’s not like me calling him out. I just want to please the fans. When I retire from boxing I want fans to look back at my fights and say, ‘Damn, that was some exciting sh--! Mike was an exciting fighter. I like Mike.’

“I’ll fight anybody. I know a lot of fighters say that because it’s about the money. To me it’s not about the money. I want to leave a mark. I want anybody at a high level because when I retire I want to be able to look back at my career and say, ‘I had some good fights, some exciting fights and people remember me.’”

Dan Rafael was ESPN.com's senior boxing writer for fifteen years, and covered the sport for five years at USA Today. He was the 2013 BWAA Nat Fleischer Award winner for excellence in boxing journalism.