Teresa Perozzi retained her WBA world middleweight belt with minimum fuss at Berkeley Institute Gym on Saturday night.The Bermudian southpaw dictated the tempo throughout the ten-round championship bout on the way to a unanimous points decision over American April Ward who took some heavy punishment.American judges Lynn Carter and Steve Weisfield both had Perozzi winning 100-90 while local judge Vic Richmond scored it 99-92 in the mother-of-one’s favour.Perozzi, who improved her pro record to 9-4-1,dictated her opponent from the outset with a barrage of punches and never let up.But she was unable to deliver the knockout blow that her dominant display in the ring so rightly deserved.“I should’ve had the knockout,” Perozzi said. “I was surprised she went the distance even though she took a lot of punishment.“But it’s a win and I’ll take it.”Ward, who suffered the fifth loss of her pro career, took consolation from going the distance with the champ.“I am proud of what I did and there’s no shame in losing to the world champ,” she said. “It was a very good fight and she deserved it.“She is a very tough fighter and I’m glad I lasted ten rounds.“I done my best but it just wasn’t good enough to win it.”After dancing her way to the ring amid the pulsating sounds and sights of the Gombeys, Perozzi danced all over Ward who was simply out of her depth against the champ.Perozzi charged Ward from the opening bell and snapped her rival’s head back with a series of punishing left hooks that set the tone for more punishment to come.Ward, who swung wildly at thin air for most of the fight, tried her best to keep Perozzi at length with her long jabs. But the champ had no difficulty getting inside the American’s brittle defences where she landed more thunderous left hooks that shook Ward to the core.“She couldn’t stop it and it should’ve been straighter,” Perozzi said.The knockout that Perozzi seemed destined for appeared to have arrived in the third round when she tagged Ward with a combination of punches up against the ropes. But she ran out of time as the bell rang to signal the end of another lopsided round in Perozzi’s favour.The local fighter also had Ward hanging on for dear life in the eighth round.Ward tried to punch her way back into contention. But even though she connected with the odd straight jab her punches lacked the venom needed to keep Perozzi honest.Whenever there was the slightest hint of the pendulum swinging the American’s way Perozzi simply brought on more pain to quickly put things back into perspective.Ward relinquished what little support she may have had after she was booed by the bumper crowd for punching the champ in the back of the head with a cheap shot in the fourth round.This only seemed to irritate Perozzi who responded with another flurry of punches that all but sent Ward crashing to the canvas.The closing rounds resembled a foot race more than anything else as a battered Ward ran around the ring to avoid further punishment as Perozzi moved in for the kill.“I didn’t prepare for her running that much,” Perozzi said. “I have to work on cutting off the ring a bit more.”Ward moved up a weight class for this world championship fight.But after being peppered by Perozzi all night she probably wished she hadn’t.