“When the bell went, I just went into this zone. I dislocated her shoulder, broke her nose and left her with a black eye.”

So spoke Teresa Perozzi, boxing world champion, masseuse, mother and a 32-year-old woman who is as mild-mannered outside the ring as she is vicious in it.

Perozzi, who will defend her recently won NABC world crown in just four days, was describing the second fight of her fledgling career - and the first one for which she trained - when she spoke about the wild change that overcomes her once she is on the centre of the canvass.

Up until that night in Denver at a Police Boxing Club event, Perozzi had just been an office worker and doting parent who was in relatively good shape, although perhaps by her own admission “a little chunky”.

But the way she set about destroying her corrections officer opponent, it became clear that boxing could turn into much more than just a two-night-a-week hobby for her and she had plenty more to offer the Fight Game.

Like any other Bermudian kid, little Teresa played most sports when at Bermuda High School for Girls, winning the occasional annual sports award for her various endeavours but never really excelling at any of them.

Despite her grandfather Farrell Quinlan's three NCAA crowns - won while at Notre Dame - boxing wasn't something she was interested in and she had never spoken with him about his pugilistic exploits by the time he died when she was eight.

A little bit of karate was the closest she came to being involved in a contact sport and she instead concentrated on swimming and basketball as she made her transition to Warwick Academy.

When at university in Tampa, again basketball was on her sporting agenda. But there was still no indication that here was a future world champion.

After graduation she was back in Bermuda, working two or three jobs and tending to little Micah when one crazy, naive, champagne-inspired decision was to send her life spiralling into a world of blood, sweat, tears, corruption and unprecedented glory.

With her son being cared for by a baby sitter, Perozzi went out for champagne and sushi at Harbourfront before heading down to Docksiders to continue the night out.

Not much of a drinker, the two glasses of bubbles inside her were enough to make her give an affirmative answer when approached in the Front Street bar and asked if she fancied taking part in the Teachers Rugby Club's legendary Fight Night.

Perhaps not entirely sure what she was letting herself in for, it was a decision she was to regret the following morning.

Her best attempts to get out of her date with destiny failed, a succession of cajoling phonecalls from all connected with the event eventually forcing her to take part.

Her Harbourfront boss originally wouldn't let her out to compete, but he was persuaded to let her go at 10 p.m. and - after setting her gumshield in hot water in the restaurant kitchen - she headed out to box.

“I didn't really know what I was doing,” she laughed when recalling her clash with the hulking Canadian nanny.

“I wouldn't have said ‘yes' had I known there was going to be 1,000 people watching. I had done a bit of karate, although not since I was 11, so I had a vague idea of what to do.

“I sort of just kept my hands up and put in a lot of body shots. Looking back, I really had no clue but it worked out and it was stopped in the second round.

“It was an incredible feeling when I won and after that I thought I'd give it a go - although I didn't think anything would come of it. I didn't really know anything about women's boxing and I knew that the sport was disorganised on the Island but I thought it would be fun just to train.”

A couple of nights a week at the Police gym and Perozzi soon realised she was getting pretty good at this fighting lark, something that became all the more apparent when she pummelled a prison officer into submission in Denver, putting the American in hospital and leaving Perozzi another step up a fight ladder she was eventually to scale.

The date: March 21, 2003.

The venue: The Aladdin, Las Vegas.

The opponent: Musclehead.

Amount of weight need to be lost in eight days: 9 lbs.

Chances of a pro debut victory according to local commentators who described Perozzi as a “beauty queen”: Pretty much nil.

After two years of handing out beatings to various amateur fighters across Bermuda and North America - including claiming the LA super middleweight Golden Gloves title without actually getting into the ring - Perozzi inevitably moved into the pro arena.

Having to put on bake sales in Bermuda to finance her continued travelling to the States for top amateur fights, Perozzi knew it was time to step up into the big time and take her participation in the Fight Game to a higher and more lucrative level.

“A questionable decision” had robbed her of a place in the world amateur championships and with no Olympic dream to aim for, there was nothing left in the amateur game for a fighter whose aggressive style didn't match the rather finicky scoring system used to separate the wheat from the chaff below pro level.

“Amateur scoring didn't quite suit my style,” said Perozzi, who by the time of her pro move was a resident of LA, undertaking a masseuse course and training with Muhammad Ali's daughter's former trainer Dub Huntley.

“You could knock a girl down and still lose the fight. It is all about how many blows you get in with the white tip of your gloves and that didn't really suit me or my style.

“I was more aggressive than that and with no Olympics to aim for and my chances of getting to the amateur worlds hampered by some poor decisions and a lack of support from the Bermuda Amateur Boxing Association, there was really nothing else left for me to do.

“And the fact that I was now living in LA and, I guess, moving in the right circles made it a little easier to make the step up.”

Once she made the decision, it wasn't long before she was handed her first go in the ring.

She was in fact given just eight days' notice before facing Nicole Conant - and even that time was spent rushing around the streets of LA trying to complete all the necessary paperwork to satisfy the strict requirements of Las Vegas boxing.

Pundits were giving here no chance in the televised contest, particularly after her ladylike appearance for the weigh-in, for which she missed the necessary weight by three lbs.

With the crowd hollering for the Vegas resident, who earned her rather unpleasant nickname because she closely resembled a bodybuilder as much as a boxer, Perozzi was not getting much support.

But she fought an incredible battle, knocking down Musclehead a couple of times and winning over the crowd - all the while wearing a pair of men's extra large trunks and a borrowed male truss.

“I must have looked ridiculous,” continued Perozzi, who still harbours dreams of a return to Vegas.

“But it was an incredible feeling once it was over. No one had given me a chance and there I was, standing there, the winner of my first pro fight.”

Her bouts since as a pro have been no less interesting - and certainly more controversial - prompting her to firmly state that she would never recommend boxing to any aspiring female pugilists.

“I have got an incredible amount of out of it, particularly the day I claimed the world championship,” continued Perozzi, who for various reasons has at one time or another trained with, and then left, and then trained with again, every single trainer on the Island - through no fault of her own.

“But I have to say I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. If a young girl came up to me and asked whether she should go into boxing I would try and talk her out of it.

“I love what I do but there is a lot wrong with the sport. There is too much controversy and corruption and too many times fights are decided for the wrong reasons.

“Often fighting with the right corner can get you the decision, it's amazing the things that go on.

“If you don't knock people out, often you are at the mercy of the judges. It is often the case that people get home advantage and decisions never go against them in tight fights - although for some reason that doesn't apply to me.”

That last comment is a direct reference to the fight that plays most on the mind of Perozzi - her bitter defeat to Monica Nunez.

When taking on the Dominican in June of 2004 at CedarBridge Academy, the Bermudian appeared to have earned the win with a brave and impressive display.

Yet the result went against her and victory went to the visitor, who was later to move on and fight some of the top girls in the world, leaving Perozzi convinced it was all a bit of a set up.

“I wasn't schedule to fight someone of her experience but then she was kind of thrust upon us at the last minute,” she said, a little of the menace and aggression that she shows in the ring coming out in her voice.

“I guess the promoters knew that I wouldn't back out at that stage and they wanted Nunez to win to set her up for some bigger bouts in the future.”

Nearly all her other fights have ended with similar anger, sometimes from Perozzi, sometimes the opponent.

When she appeared to comfortably beat American Elizabeth Kerin at Fight Night, the visitor then launched into a bizarre foul-mouthed diatribe, blaming the world and his wife for her defeat at the hands of corrupt Island judges.

Perozzi was then left furious by the decision that went against her when taking on Laura ‘Lady Ram' Ramsey the following month and then, how can anyone forget, the nonsense that accompanied the world championship bout in Trinidad - Bermuda boxing's finest hour tarnished by attempted removal of belts and threats of legal action.

For the boxer, that is all in the past. She has the belt, she is defending it this Saturday and all the nonsense with the WIBC is behind her - but not her anger about her first injustice.

Perozzi's smouldering fury towards Nunez is the one reason that the Dominican remains the local girl's number one target, her nemesis.

“I want a rematch with Monica Nunez,” was the simple response to the question ‘what ambitions do you have still in boxing?'.

It's not unifying world titles - although that is to be on the agenda at some stage - not making money, not fighting Laila Ali, the biggest name in women's boxing, but gaining revenge on a girl that Perozzi believes she did beat before and could beat again in the future.

One of the proudest moments of Perozzi's career may have taken place in the ring, but wasn't anything to do with the genuine rough and tumble of the Fight Game itself.

Her friendship with Ali, whose father Perozzi has sadly never met, led her into an uncharted territory - and a coveted membership of the Screen Actors' Guild, a card that many of those around her in LA were desperate to obtain.

Ali was asked to appear in ‘Strong Medicine' - an ER-style American series about a boxer fighting despite a long-standing medical complaint. Perozzi was needed to fight her.

Playing a Swede - sadly with no lines other than the fake grunts of battle - Perozzi spent four hours trading blows with her friend for a show for which she still receives the odd royalty payment and occasionally turns up as a re-run on daytime cable TV.

But Perozzi came so close to a much more lucrative and fame-laden appearance in the big time - a part in the Hollywood blockbuster Million Dollar Baby.

The author of the original book, Jerry Boyd, was a cut man for her first pro trainer and, some years before the film actually made it onto the silver screen he told Perozzi that the character who eventually paralyses the lead role in the final fight scene in the book he was writing was “sort of based on her”.

Boyd died, his work didn't and Million Dollar Baby made millions - even without Perozzi showing off more of her acting/boxing skills.