She took perhaps the biggest beating of her professional career, but Teresa Perozzi was still a world champion on Saturday night following a controversial points victory over American challenger Roselin Morales.

In front of a smaller-than-expected crowd of several hundred at Clearwater Beach, the North American Boxing Council world title holder was pushed to the absolute limit by her long-limbed and previously undefeated opponent from Pennsylvania, who was adamant afterwards that she had been cheated out of victory by the verdicts of the three Bermudian judges, all of whom scored the ten-round fight Perozzi's way.

"I won that fight ? there's absolutely no question about that," said 35-year-old former body-builder Morales, who pledged to return later in the year for a rematch she is entitled to under the terms of her contract.

"I knew if it went to points that it was always likely to be a home town decision, and that was definitely the case tonight. I know I landed far more punches than she did.

"It was a tough fight, but I don't think you'd find anybody neutral in the audience who could possibly have scored the fight her way. She's a good boxer and got better as the fight went on, but I used my reach to keep her on the end of my jab and a lot of the punches she was throwing ended up hitting my arms or my shoulders.

"I'm not very happy about the situation, but I'll be back to get my belt."

Not surprisingly, the champion had a very different view ? despite a heavily swollen face from the high number of Morales punches which had found their target.

"I don't think that's right at all," said Perozzi, soon after taking a phone call from her concerned mother and admitting to being "pretty beat up".

"If I don't knock somebody out then you just never know. I think I won that fight. I think I won quite a few rounds towards the end of the fight but hey, you'll just have to look at the tape and decide for yourself.

"Overall though it was a very hard fight and makes me realise how hard I'm going to have to work to keep improving.

"I feel a little bit more beaten up tonight than I have in past fights and it will take me a few weeks to recover from this. One of my problems is that I can take a punch, so when I get into the ring I probably take a few more than I should do rather than just backing off a situation.

"But I've got the win, I think I deserved it and I'm happy with that."

The 'Rumble on the Beach' delayed for over two hours because of a series of embarrassing organisational hitches ? one of which included running out of tape to wrap the fighters' hands.

Host Joe Brown did his best, but even with the aid of several scantily-clad ring girls, he struggled at times to keep the increasingly impatient crowd happy, with the first of the three-round amateur bouts not starting until after 9 p.m..

When the main event finally did get underway, Perozzi certainly took a while to find her range, initially looking ponderous in comparison to Morales' quick footwork and excellent left jab.

But by the middle phase of the 10-round fight, the champion began to impose herself, landing a number of typically powerful left hooks which bloodied the nose of an increasingly rattled Morales.

A big left-hand from Perozzi in the tenth ? which snapped the American's head back and brought the crowd to their feet ? was arguably the punch of the night.

Yet Morales had consistently been using her long reach to pepper the champion with the jab, and looked in the eyes of the majority to have victory in the bag.

The judges, however, thought otherwise, handing Bermuda's sole professional boxer her seventh win in nine fights.