by David P. Greisman

Devon Alexander said hurting his left hand in the first round of his fight with Lee Purdy changed his game plan but didn’t get in the way of him going on to win by seventh-round technical knockout. Purdy’s corner stopped the bout before the eighth round began.

“I hurt my left hand, I mean bad, but I had to throw that out of my head,” Alexander said at the post-fight press conference. “I’m a warrior. I knew I could beat him with one hand if I could, so that’s what I did.”

Alexander said that he and trainer Kevin Cunningham had planned for Purdy’s style of coming forwad.

“Me and my coach had a game plan where we didn’t have to move as much with him, but do subtle movement left and right,” Alexander said. “Of course me hurting my left hand, I couldn’t throw it like I wanted to. I could’ve hit him with anything I wanted to, because he was coming straight ahead. I could’ve turned him and hit him with the left hand, but I couldn’t.

“Every time I threw it, it felt like I was breaking each bone in there,” he said. “I got the job done. I toughed it out. I had to use my Urango uppercut in this fight, and got the victory.”

Alexander, who at 26 years old is now 25-1 with 14 knockouts, said he still has much to learn, but is also showing other dimensions.

“People thought I could just move around the ring, that’s all I could do,” Alexander said. “I showed that I could stand there, and I got power, too. People think I don’t got power, but I got power.”

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter @fightingwords2 or send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com