Teresa Perozzi?s vanquished opponent from last week?s world middleweight title fight at Clearwater Beach has urged the champion not to quit professional boxing.

Speaking through her agent Meg Kyle from the the United States yesterday, Roselin Morales also apologised for ?offending? fight officials by claiming afterwards that Perozzi?s narrow points victory had been a ?home-town? decision ? now implying that she probably had lost the fight fair and square.

The three local judges scored the 10-round bout 97-95, 97-96 and 96-94 in favour of the local hero.

Perozzi ? the North American Boxing Council world champion ? surprised everybody this week when she announced that she was to retire at the age of 32 having become ?incredibly frustrated? by a lack of training facilities, money and public backing.

But Kyle said yesterday that despite Perozzi?s comments to the contrary, most female boxers in the US have also traditionally struggled to be taken seriously while suffering with similarly limited resources.

By walking away now, Kyle said, Morales believes Perozzi would only be strengthening the arguments of those who think women?s boxing is ?nothing to write home about?.

?Rose really is saddened by the news that Teresa intends to hang up her gloves,? said Kyle, while admitting his fighter would be keen for a rematch later in the year.

?If anyone understands the reasons behind the decision, then it is Rose. Teresa seems to think that all boxers from the US work out in luxury and are paid to focus purely on boxing.

?But Rose is also self-employed, is a single mother, sacrificed a huge amount and lost money for the opportunity to meet up with Teresa in the ring. It was the biggest opportunity of her career and she was desperate to make the most of it. Rose spent seven weeks preparing for the fight, training on weekends in a basement in Staten Island and spending four hours every night of the week ? after working all day ? in a beginner gym in Allentown.

?But Teresa has one over Rose because at least she has the backing of organisations like Capital G and living in a small island like Bermuda where female boxing seems to be taken at least semi-seriously.

?Rose feels that if Teresa walks away now, the only people who would would win are all those who don?t take female boxers seriously. Both fighters have dedicated themselves to the sport and it?s definitely time for more people to start paying attention and giving their support for these ladies.

?In terms of the fight itself, after returning to Pennsylvania and reviewing what happened, Rose believes she acted out of pure emotion directly after the bout and would like to apologise if she offended anyone ? including the officials. She knows that a one point difference was not going to get her the belt. I hope this clears up any controversy there might have been for what was said and Rose would like people to know that she felt it was a privilege to step into the ring with Teresa.?