Welterweight champion Devon Alexander of St. Louis confirmed he broke his left hand in the first round of his fight Saturday against Lee Purdy at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, according to a report on ESPN.com.

Alexander still managed to stop the overmatched Purday after seven rounds. The report quotes Alexander’s trainer, Kevin Cunningham, as saying that Alexander “hit Purdy on top of the head in the first round, and that’s when it happened.”

Alexander’s title was supposed to be on the line in the fight, but Purdy was a pound over at Friday’s weigh-in. Had Purdy won, he would not have been able to take the title, and Alexander would nevertheless have walked away as champion. But it still went down as a title defense for Alexander, who won the title with a unanimous decision over Randall Bailey in October 2012 in Brooklyn.