The IBF super-middleweight champion is back from his shoulder injury and feeling sharp ahead of his bout with Caleb Truax on Saturday

Seven weeks ago James DeGale finally got the all-clear to do what he does best: curl his right hand into a fist and, for the first time since January, unleash it in anger. But watching the IBF world super-middleweight champion swarm round his trainer Jim McDonnell, snapping tigerishly at his pads, you would never know anything was awry.

His jab is sharp and peppery. Combinations flow with a pleasant viciousness. And the only sign of career-saving surgery is a thick scar along his right shoulder.

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DeGale knew something drastic needed to be done after being forced to fight one-handed in a brutal draw against the American Badou Jack at the start of the year, during which a bridge on his upper teeth was smashed and he was put down in the 12th round.

The road back has been tinged with too much pain and boredom but, as he prepares to face the unheralded Caleb Truax on Saturday, he insists he is a new man.

“Against Jack my shoulder was totally gone,” says DeGale. “When I went to see the surgeon afterwards I had a 180 degree tear around the shoulder, my AC joint needed stabilising and my rotator cuff was torn. They went in keyhole, slit me open and found my shoulder was mashed.”

After surgery there was months of rehabilitation, during which time DeGale feared that he would never box again. “Yeah, I was doubting myself,” he says. “Only after about three months did it start getting better. I couldn’t lift my arm at first, or button a shirt up.

“I have actually only been punching for the past seven weeks, which is crazy. But now you will see what I can do, I promise. I’ll be jabbing, double jabbing and hooking off the jab.”

However, the injury did have its compensations. “Actually, the girl I was seeing was washing me, it was brilliant,” he says, beaming broadly. “I’ve got a stand-up shower and she’d get in and wash me. I think I milked it for a little bit.”

Even if there is some rust in the shoulder DeGale should have few problems beating Truax, who has a superficially impressive 30-3 record but has lost on every venture into world level.

DeGale then intends to unify the belts by beating the WBA champion David Benavidez in March or April before targeting a rematch with his bitter rival George Groves, who remains the only man to defeat him as a professional in a controversial points decision in 2011.

“I heard an interview with him the other day and he said he’s the No1 in the world,” says DeGale, sounding flabbergasted. “How does he justify that? Who has he boxed? I beat Andre Dirrell for my world title, he was 24-1 with his only loss against Carl Froch. Then I went to Canada and beat Lucian Bute who was a five-year world champion, then I mash up Rogelio Medina who was my mandatory, then I unified with Jack.”

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Any meeting will first need Groves, the WBC champion, to beat Chris Eubank Jr when the pair meet in their Super Series semi-final fight in February and probably Callum Smith in the final. But DeGale thinks it is possible. “I’d like Groves to come through it because I want to fight him again and we could do it with our belts on the line,” he says. “Our history goes back a long way and it would be a fantastic fight.”

Yet DeGale admits that he does not like the fame that comes with success. “Believe it or not, I don’t,” he says. “I like nice things, I love money really, don’t I? But I don’t love the fame side. All I care about is my world title, being in big fights and being known for that.”

“I get asked to go on all sorts of TV shows and I have turned down so much shit. There were talks about going into the jungle, Strictly and Big Brother – and I’m a good dancer so I’d smash Strictly.”

For now, at least, smashing opponents remains his first priority. A point he intends to emphasise on Saturday night.