After months of dashed hopes and false promises, boxing champ Teresa Perozzi will finally get chance to fight a major opponent when she travels to Sweden in September to take on the world’s number three-ranked middleweight, Asa Sandell.

Since January Perozzi had been under the impression that promoter Boxu Potts was trying to organise a fight with Trinidadian slugger Scroller Carrington for the prestigious World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight belt, which is currently vacant.

But with that initiative having apparently hit the rocks — which Bermuda’s North American Boxing Council champion admitted yesterday was not a total surprise — Perozzi has been desperately looking for someone else to fight

And when the call came she jumped at the opportunity to put her North American Boxing Council title on the line against the six-foot-one Swede, who has a record of six wins, three losses and one draw as a pro — including a defeat at the hands of Laila Ali.

“I’ve signed a fight contract and everything seems fine,” Perozzi said yesterday in between sessions at her day-job as a massage therapist.

“She (Sandell) is very well paid and promoted over there and we certainly couldn’t have had the fight in Bermuda because we would not have been able to pay her enough money.

“She’s a very tall fighter which I quite like actually because it gives me a chance to fight inside. I’m a power-puncher and fighting a tall opponent gives me the opportunity to get inside which suits my style really.

“She’s obviously very good and has fought a lot of the top girls including Laila Ali. She lost to Laila but she’s still got some great experience under her belt and will be hard to beat, especially with the fight being in Sweden.

“I’ll be putting my belt on the line and so will she (the World Boxing Empire or WBE title) so I’m really looking forward to it.”

With four months of preparation ahead of her, Perozzi won’t begin any intense sparring until around eight weeks before the fight — though she’ll certainly be doing a lot of other fitness work, starting with the May 24 Marathon Derby.

She’s also keen to find another lower-profile bout before her date with Sandell, but in the fickle world of women’s professional boxing, this is going to be far easier said than done.

“I’d certainly love to fight someone beforehand, but you just never know when or where it might happen,” she said.

“Sometimes you get a last-minute call for a fight and sometimes you can hear nothing for months. So I’ll definitely look for the opportunity and in the meantime I just have to be ready to go at a moment’s notice.”

Perozzi’s last fight was in July when she beat American Roselin Morales at Clearwater Beach via a unanimous points decision.