January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
She'll be in for the 'fight of her life'
Following the template of HBO's popular 24/7 series, we'll be getting inside Camp Perozzi, talking to her coaches, her fitness trainers and her corner-men as she builds towards the big fight.
In part one, James Whittaker takes a look at her training regime, the influence of her new coach Charlie Romano and how she is fitting her preparations around her hectic home life.
It's Thursday. It's just a little over three weeks before Teresa Perozzi faces the fight of her life against Natascha Ragosina in Germany.
The day began at 6am at the athletics track, with a series of sprint drills with her fitness trainer Yves Paul.
After that it was back home to take the kids to school before rejoining Paul for a 45-minute workout at an office gym he uses in Hamilton. It's fast and intense - a circuit of plyometrics and core work, focusing on building her fitness and explosive power.
After a quick shower and a breakfast of oatmeal and blueberries and a protein shake - she's trying to consume 4,000 calories a day - she's at work, spending the day at her massage therapy business in Hamilton.
Then she squeezes in a practice session for the celebrity dancing with the stars event, where she is scheduled to be a contestant next weekend, something her coach - veteran New Jersey boxing guru Charlie Romano is not too thrilled about.
After that it's over to Forty Rego's gym where she has been working out every night with Romano, who arrived from New Jersey on Monday.
She sweats her way through an 18-round circuit alternating between heavy bag, speed-bag, double end bag, pad work skipping drill and sparring, working for three minutes on each with a 30 second rest.
Then she takes in some video footage of Ragosina's recent fights before calling it quits for the night.
That's pretty much a typical day for Perozzi, though sometimes the morning begins with a run on the beach or along South Shore and the Dancing with the Stars commitment - which she insists helps with her footwork - is just twice a week.
The training has kicked into high gear since Romano, an intelligent analytical coach recruited by Perozzi's manager George Cuozzo arrived from the States.
The pair have bonded instantly with Romano impressed by Perozzi's willingness to learn.
"I like her a lot, she's a real good person. She listens and does what you tell her." For Perozzi, Romano's techniques, which involve a lot of video analysis and specific tactical training designed to counter her opponent's expansive style, have been a real eye-opener.
Romano likens Ragosina's approach in the ring to Mohammed Ali.
"She fights like Ali - stick and move, stick and move, stick and move. She likes to use the whole ring but she has a problem with putting herself in the corner.
"We're working on a few things with Teresa to try and cut off the ring and keep her boxed in there.
"This girl's 5'11" so if Teresa can get in close and fight inside then she can't use her punching power, which I don't think she has too much of anyway. She's got 11 knockouts but I don't know who her opponents were because from what I've seen she doesn't have too much power.
"I think we can knock her out to be honest. Work her with some body punches and then go for the framework."
It's a tactic that has heavily influenced their training with Perozzi's current sparring partner Leroy Maxwell - a sanshou martial arts fighter who works out at Forty Rego's gym - asked to ape Ragosina's style. "He's trying to copy how she fights. To beat her I've got to get inside and punch to the body, box her into the corner," says Perozzi, who has been working on increasing her power by putting her whole body into her punches - a tweak in her technique, suggested by Romano.
Next week it will be more of the same, with the sparring starting to increase before she heads out to work with Romano full-time at his New Jersey gym for the final ten days before the fight.
"It's going great. We have three weeks to the fight and by the time I get to New Jersey, I'll really be ready."
Teresa Perozzi and Natascha Ragosina will face off on March 15.[[In-content Ad]]
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