DeGale is the reigning IBF super-middleweight champion but tried to unify with the WBC strap in a showdown with Badou Jack in January.
However, the pair were awarded a draw and DeGale says his shoulder was already “gone” during the bout, a problem that was only revealed when the team headed to America for the fight.
But the 31-year-old insisted on going through with the fight and the decision was only taken to have surgery in June, during which Dr Funk, one of the UK’s leading shoulder specialists, discovered more damage than he had expected.
“I had 180-degree tear around the shoulder, my AC joint needed stabilising, it needed anchoring up and my rotator cuff was torn,” DeGale said.
“They went in keyhole and slit me open on top of my shoulder for AC joint.”
DeGale bares a significant scar on top of his right shoulder from the procedure but it was not the only thing it left him with.
After four weeks in a sling, he still couldn’t move the joint.
“I was doubting myself, thinking ‘am I going to get better?’,” DeGale added.
“After about three months, it felt like it got better every day.
“The physios Nick Palmer and Rob Madden have been fantastic and my right arm now feels better than my left!”
The 2008 Olympic middleweight champion reckons every single one of his title defences, none of which have been in the UK on home soil, has been hampered by his troublesome shoulder.
But now fighting back in London for the first time in three years, DeGale reckons he has the chance to show a new side of his game.
“I’ve only been punching fully for the last seven weeks,” DeGale said.
“It’s crazy but you lot are going to see.
“You’re going to say ‘he’s jabbing now, he’s double-jabbing, he’s hooking off his jab’.”
Assuming DeGale does come through with a win over Truax, the super-middleweight will target David Benavidez in 2018 with the long-term goal of a rematch with WBA champ and childhood rival George Groves.
