Abstract Constraints on models which predict resonant top-quark pair production at the LHC are provided via a reinterpretation of the Standard Model (SM) particle level measurement of the top-anti-top invariant mass distribution, $ m\left(t\overline{t}\right) $ m t t ¯ . We make use of state-of-the-art Monte Carlo event simulation to perform a direct comparison with measurements of $ m\left(t\overline{t}\right) $ m t t ¯ in the semi-leptonic channels, considering both the boosted and the resolved regime of the hadronic top decays. A simplified model to describe various scalar resonances decaying into top-quarks is considered, including CP-even and CP-odd, color-singlet and color-octet states, and the excluded regions in the respective parameter spaces are provided.