Hot on the heels of a three-round victory in the USA, Bermudian boxer Teresa Perozzi has delivered a blow of a different sort.

The middleweight fighter, who has just returned from a bout in North Carolina, is set to quit the Island for the US to train for a career.

Perozzi is the highest profile woman fighter in Bermuda and there has been no news of anyone seeking to follow in her footsteps.

"I move away next month to Los Angeles where my family live," she said. "I want to be a massage therapist and will be there for about a year. I would love to be a boxer but . . ."

Perozzi said she was not giving up the fight game and intended to seek bouts in California.

"It will take about nine months to a year to do my course and I will see what I can do with my boxing. When I come back I will have a lot more knowledge," she said.

Perozzi represented Bermuda at the inaugural women's amateur World Championships in Scranton, Pennsylvania last year and she intends to fight in this year's event as well - though it could well be under a different flag.

"I want to go to the World Championships which are in Turkey at the end of this year and I am going to try out for the US team because I am American as well," she said. "They have such a huge sports system out there and it's all expenses paid. But I would love to go representing Bermuda, of course. That would be my first choice if we can get ourselves together financially."

Perozzi was understandably delighted with her latest win which came against Marine Jennifer Delgado at the 2002 East Regional Women's Invitational in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"She had tattoos and was one of those types so it was a little bit intimidating but I knew, especially after my last experience, that I would be alright," said Perozzi. "That last fight at the Worlds taught me a lot. I knew I could definitely handle myself, it was just a case of getting the chance to do it again."

The fighter said she had worked on a strategy with coach Forty Rego and things went according to plan.

"We worked on not backing up at all, moving forward on her and being aggressive," she said. "I knew once she felt my punch it would at least stop her from coming forward and then if I could carry the fight I knew I could win it that way."

The women fought over three two-minute rounds and the Bermudian was in charge throughout.

"At the end of the first round I knew I was in control. I could tell she was not going to come to me and was counter-punching," she said. "I was able to get out of the way of a lot of her punches so she didn't land many at all.

"In the third round I got a little tired but that was mainly down to nerves because I do eight rounds of sparring, no problem, and they are of three minutes. But the nerves got to me and my legs were shaking so I slowed it up a bit."

It is one thing thinking you have won but it is another convincing judges of the same - especially when faced with a partisan crowd.

"You never know especially when you are in America fighting Americans. Unless you knock them out there is no guarantee but just from listening to the crowd I could tell," Perozzi said. "She had a lot of support because the Marines had brought a whole team and I could hear the things they were shouting to her like 'she's scared of you too', trying to psyche her up to come to me. She wouldn't do it so I knew the crowd knew she hadn't won."

In the end it was a unanimous victory.

"I was relieved. My other trainer told me not to come home unless I had won. But I had to win this for myself because I have sacrificed a lot. Being a single parent, I am dragging my son to training, you have to eat properly and you have give up a lot of your social life so I had to win it," Perozzi said.

On the back of her triumph Perozzi has been invited to fight in Greensboro, North Carolina, next month along with a Bermudian men's team - money permitting.

"It all involves a lot of fundraising - I had to do bake sales to go to this one," said Perozzi who made about $600 following an event at the MarketPlace.