'I'm ready to kick someone's butt'

FRIDAY, DEC. 23: Theresa Perozzi is buoyant with confidence ahead of her WBA Middleweight title fight.

Perozzi will take on American Lorissa Rivas on Friday, December 30 in Tobago. Rivas, 29, has a 4-2 record with three KOs, but she lost her last bout in July of this year in a split decision loss in July to fellow American Tori Nelson in Trinidad.

Perozzi, 7-4-1 with one KO, is shaking off the ring rust as she hasn’t been inside the ropes since an unanimous decision loss to Christina Hammer in October of 2010 in Germany for the then vacant WBO middleweight title.

This is the second time Perozzi has fought for the WBC super middleweight title, having lost to Germany’s Natascha Ragosina in her homeland in a fight for six belts.

The match was originally scheduled for Boxing Day, but was pushed back over complications.

Perozzi said the few extra days “doesn’t really help” as she’s having difficulty in getting sparring partners in to help her train.

“But I’m really fit and I feel really good.”

Pressure

The major downside is her son Micah is back from school in Santa Monica, California and she’ll end up not getting all the time she would like to spend with him as she concentrates on winning the world title.

Perozzi said her opponent has a near four-inch height advantage “but she doesn’t like pressure, which is great because that’s me.

“The opponents I seem to do best with is her style.”

Perozzi, a southpaw, said she was disappointed with her last fight with Hammer as she was injured and could not give it her best.

“I just have this premonition. I have everything against me for this one but I feel like I’ve got this. That I’m going to stop this girl. I’m going to have to if I’m going to win.

“I feel great like I’m ready to kick someone’s butt.”

Perozzi still holds the WIBC title but said “This is big. This is the WBA. The two biggest are the WBA and the WBC. When I win, I’ve got to defend it.”

Perozzi turns 38 on New Year’s Eve and only expects to keep fighting for two more years.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being in your 40s, but I don’t want to get knocked around forever.

“I have a good two years left and we love to do three fights a year.”

She said winning the belt would hopefully get a promoter interested in bringing other boxers to Bermuda to challenge her.

She added that in women’s boxing there are not a lot of opportunities and “you’ve got to take them. I don’t care about my record because if I lose, it will be a controversial loss. I’m not about trying to build up my record. I want to fight the best people and see how I do. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter if I have four wins, five wins or 10 wins.”