BOXING: The Frenchwoman also hopes to get her ticket to the Paris Olympics next year
Nearly a year after her last outing as a professional, IBO lightweight champion Estelle Mossely retained her belt by beating Malawi’s Anisha Basheel on points on Friday in Paris.
As soon as her fight was over, the 2016 Olympic champion announced her move to super-lightweight to get the WBC Silver belt and thus place herself as the official challenger for the reunification of the belts.
One more goal for the Frenchwoman, who has just embarked on a career as a promoter and who also hopes to get her ticket for the Paris Olympics next year. “Believe me, we’re going to snatch this second gold medal,” she told the public after her victory.
A second gold medal in Paris?
Under the chandeliers and colonnades of the Salle Wagram, one of the oldest theatres in Paris which have seen illustrious names in boxing, from Georges Carpentier to Marcel Cerdan, Mossely win by unanimous decision of the three judges (100-90, 99-91, 99-91).
More mobile and more technical than her opponent (25 years old, 1.73m, 11 v. including 10 before the deadline, 8 d.), the Frenchwoman made the difference from the start of the exchanges. “I felt on the length that she was starting to tire but she was tenacious. I had the impression that my shots did not shake him, ”although admitted Mossely.
“Afterwards she made technical errors, she was slower than me so I managed to counter her, to turn on my attacks to put her in the wind”, she congratulated herself. Mossely’s last professional fight was in March 2022 in Dubai when she beat Argentine Yanina del Carmen Lescano on points. With this success against Basheel, ranked 18th in the IBO, the 30-year-old boxer remains undefeated with now 11 wins in 11 fights among the pros.
In parallel with her professional career, Estelle Mossely has also embarked on the race for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris . She took a first step at the beginning of the month by playing a pre-selection tournament which secured her place for the European Games next June, which will themselves qualify for the Olympics. Before this meeting, she will also participate in the World Amateur Championships from March 15 to 26 in India. “That’s a lot of different goals but I took the measure of the challenge,” she assured.
