When reminded that July will mark four years since her professional debut, Estelle Mossely laughs.

“It's going really fast. Now will be the first time I will fight in another country because all my fights were in France, and after this I want to start to fight where boxing is really a big sport, like in the USA, in England.” 

It has gone fast for the 9-0 pro from Bagnolet, Seine-Saint-Denis, France, but this is no mere prospect hoping for big things to happen in 2022. When Mossely steps into the ring in Dubai’s Duty Free Tennis Stadium to face Yanina del Carmen Lescano this Friday, she will do so in defense of her IBO lightweight title, a headliner for a televised Probellum card in which the 2016 Olympic gold medalist not only fights to keep her belt, but to make her case for a shot against the winner of the April 30 SuperFight between undisputed 135-pound champion Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.

Not that she’s planning on that taking place immediately.

“I take it fight by fight,” said Mossely. “The plan is to fight Katie next year, and I want to be really ready for this fight. It's why I think for me and for me team, we need two or three big fights before this fight.”

Taylor and Mossely have history, fighting four times as amateurs. The Irish star won the first three, but Mossely got the last word, taking a decision victory in the semifinals of the 2016 AIBA world championships. So a Taylor win in New York City next month would make a potential fight even more marketable, but Mossely is willing to face anyone if it means being the best lightweight on the planet.  

“I think if Katie Taylor will win, it will be a good fight for me because it's like revenge for the last fight in the amateurs,” said Mossely. “I think it's good for the promotion of the fight. If she will lose, I will be okay. I just want to be the best boxer in the world, and if it's Katie, it will be Katie. If it's Serrano, it will be Serrano. I'm okay for all of those girls.”

A look at the 29-year-old’s amateur resume proves that she is willing to face anyone and everyone. From Taylor and Chantelle Cameron to Mikaela Mayer, Natasha Jonas and Maiva Hamadouche, Mossely has seen them all, and now she hopes to do the same in the punch for pay ranks. 

It’s an ambitious plan, but one that sets an example for her two sons, who, at four-and-a-half and one-and-a-half, keep mom busy when she’s not in the gym.  

“Everything is possible,” said Mossely, who put her career on hold twice in order to live the life she always wanted.

“I like my job,” she said. “I like boxing. But, at the same time, it's really important for me to do what I want to do. After the Olympic Games, it was important for me to have kids, and it's why I had my first kid just after the Olympic Games. Then I started my professional career and after one year, I said okay, if I want a second kid, it's now or it's never. I had my second son, and yes, it's hard to come back, for me, it's easier than if I did this after my career. Physically, it's tough, but mentally, I'm in the best condition now to begin a big boxing career. All my life, I did things like I wanted to. And mentally, it's really important for me to do my life like I want to.”

Did I add that Mossely has an engineering degree that she put to work as a developer at Allianz, and also plans to return to the Olympics in Paris in 2024?

“I want to come back in the Olympic games because the first motivation is that they will be in Paris, and it will be a big moment because it's in my country,” she said. “So it's why it's really important for me to do these Olympic games and win them. It's good timing because it's in two and a half years, and I think before these Olympic games, I can do a lot of things as a professional and I can win a lot of fights.”

You know this isn’t normal.

“I have a normal life,” she insists with a laugh. 

I don’t believe her. She laughs again. 

“For now, it's like a normal life because I'm not at the top of my career, I think. Maybe in a few years, when I will be the best boxer in the world as a professional and when I will have a second Olympic title - because it's my target to have a second Olympic title and to have all the titles as a professional - maybe it will change my life, I don't know. But for now, it's just the first step for a big career.”

Gold medal winner. Professional boxer. Engineer. Mom. What’s next?

“I really don't know what I'll do when I finish the sport,” Mossely laughs. “I think I will have many things to do after my career. But I love this sport because it's a hard sport, and we win if we work. This sport is hard and it's beautiful, too. It's a strange mix, and it's all I love. As a competitor, I like the technical difficulties of this sport and the physical difficulties, and I choose to stay in this sport. I am an engineer and I had the possibility to stay in my job, but it's not the same as the sensation in this sport. It's really different.”