• Welterweight

Khan an 'intriguing' December option for Alexander

Devon Alexander is keen to face Amir Khan © Getty Images

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Welterweight titlist Devon Alexander suffered a broken left hand during his seventh-round TKO of Lee Purdy on Saturday night in Atlantic City, as he had suspected.

Kevin Cunningham, Alexander's trainer and manager, told ESPN that Alexander had X-rays on Sunday upon returning home to St. Louis. and they showed he had a broken fifth metacarpal bone in the hand as a result of the Boardwalk Hall fight.

"He hit Purdy on top of the head in the first round and that's when it happened," Cunningham said. "Purdy dipped his head down and Devon hit him right on top of the head. He knew it was broken. We came home and went straight from the airport to the emergency room and had X-rays and they showed the break."

Cunningham, who said his fighter had sustained a hairline fracture before but never a full break, said Alexander will be in a splint for five or six weeks and be ready to fight again before the end of the year. He said that Alexander will visit a St Louis hand specialist this week to have the hand thoroughly checked.

"He's going to see one of the top guys who works with the Cardinals baseball players on Wednesday," Cunningham said of the St. Louis MLB team. "I think Devon will be ready to fight in late September or October, any time around that time."

Alexander is a southpaw, so his left hand is his dominant weapon. But with the injury, Alexander fought using his right hand almost exclusively and still laid a beating on England's Purdy, who took the fight on four weeks' notice in place of top contender Kell Brook, also of England, who dropped out because of a stress fracture in his right foot.

Purdy (20-4-1, 13 KOs), 25, who was overweight at Friday's weigh-in and not eligible to win the title, took a lot of punishment before his corner stopped the fight after the seventh round.

When Alexander (25-1, 14 KOs), 26, does return there's a good chance his next defense will take place Dec. 7 against England's Amir Khan, the former unified junior welterweight titleholder, who was ringside to scout Alexander and also to watch his younger brother, Haroon Khan, get a first-round knockout victory on the undercard in his second professional fight.

Cunningham said he likes the possible fight with Khan.

"I think it's a really intriguing fight," Cunningham said, adding he knew Golden Boy chief executive Richard Schaefer was also interested in making the fight and that he would sit down with Alexander adviser Al Haymon and "see what direction we want to go in. But we have no problem with that fight."

"We have no problem fighting Amir Khan next," Cunningham said. "Everyone wants the shot against Floyd Mayweather, but if we have to deal with Amir Khan first, no problem. Amir Khan can be next. If Amir Khan thinks he's going to use Devon Alexander to get to Floyd Mayweather, well, he's never gonna see Floyd."

This article originally appeared on ESPN.com

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