Rear axle

I was changing a inner axle boot on my 2013 sportsman 500 and ran into a problem. When I yanked on the axle to take it out, it didn’t come out of the transmission but it didn’t feel right. So I cut the boot off and the ball bearings fell on the floor. So my question is, do I need a new axle and any ideas why this happened? All I had was a small hole in the boot. If I need a new axle are SIXITY axles any good?:motz: