Teresa Perozzi, the Bermuda boxer, has ruled out any chance of making a ring comeback.

Perozzi’s retirement decision comes after losing against Kali Reis, of the United States, in a bout for the vacant IBA world middleweight title at The Fairmont Southampton last Friday.

The 40-year-old said that she always knew that her bout against the Rhode Islander would be the final time she stepped between the ropes, even though a clause in her contract entitles her to a rematch for the championship belt.

“Going in I knew this was going to be my last fight,” said Perozzi, who suffered a one-sided mauling against a far younger, quicker opponent. “There’s a rematch in my clause and I could have this in six months, but going in I knew this was going to be my last fight.”

Perozzi’s bid to unify her WBA middleweight belt with the IBA title evaporated after the referee, Steve Smoger, stopped the fight in the third round after she had taken heavy punishment.

The mother-of-two admitted that she was not up to par and disappointed not to have given a better account of herself.

“My reactions were too slow and she’s lucky because she didn’t fight the real Teresa Perozzi,” the southpaw said.

Asked whether she reviewed video footage of her defeat, Perozzi said: “I don’t want to see it. I have enough memories.”

Perozzi said that her preparations were initially hindered after re-aggravating a knee injury while training for the bout.

“I tore the lateral meniscus in my left knee and once I started boxing intensely it started collapsing and swelling,” she said. “I went to the orthopaedic doctor and she said that I had more tearing on my meniscus and had formed a cyst so everything was twisting my knee, which is all you do in boxing.

“This was four weeks before the fight and her recommendation was to pull out, but I wasn’t going to do that. So I asked her to make the pain go away, which she did with injections.

“The problem still existed but I thought if I stabilised it as much as possible I would be fine.”

Perozzi’s preparations were further hampered when she injured ligaments in her ankle on the same leg.

“Two weeks before the fight I sprained the ankle which was as a result of the unstable knee,” said Perozzi, who shared the ring with some of the best women’s boxers in the world including Christina Hammer, of Germany, and Natascha Ragosina, of Kazakhstan.

“I tried not to dwell on it but in training even my sparring partner couldn’t hit me as hard and I couldn’t run, so I had to change my preparations.

“We just focused on me being the aggressor, not taking any punishment and being as healthy as possible going in.”

Given the state of her health, Perozzi admitted that taking on Reis always posed a “risk”.

She said: “It was a risk I took, but I honestly felt I could handle it,” she said. “I felt fine on the night and had no pain. A cortisone injection fixed that. I truly thought I had a chance, although once I took a punch the same thing that happened in training happened in the ring. I just didn’t have any stability in my knee and couldn’t bang in there like I needed to.”

Perozzi ends her professional career with a record of nine wins, five defeats and three draws.

“I honestly wanted to go out with a bang but I’ve had a good run,” she said. “My mind wants to keep boxing and prepare for the rematch, but I know the consequences, and I don’t want to have a knee replacement.”