Jamaica’s former WBA featherweight world champion Nicholas “Axe Man” Walters, now campaigning at lightweight, continued his comeback with a 10-round unanimous decision win over Joseph Adorno in the ProBox main event at the Whitesands Events Center in Plant City, Florida, on Wednesday.

The 38-year-old Walters, who returned from a six-and-a-half-year layoff last year, outworked his opponent for the most parts, as Adorno was also deducted a point for a punch after the bell in round nine.

Walters’ recent squash matches with hapless Colombian journeymen, one of whom was over 45, might have suggested that this was more of a cash-out than a genuine attempt at a comeback. However, the Panama-based boxer proved that was very much not the case and that he clearly still had plenty in the tank.

He steadily took apart the 24-year-old Adorno with crisp jabs over the course of 10 rounds.

At the end, Walters won by scores of 95-94, 97-92, 98-91, as he claimed the WBA Continental Americas lightweight title and improved his ring record to 29 wins, 22 of which are by knockouts. He also has one loss and one draw.

Adorno’s record has now slipped to 18 wins (15 kos) against four losses and two draws.

Walters created history by becoming the first Jamaican to win a world boxing title at home, defeating Daulis Prescott via a 7th round TKO victory at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston for the WBA World Featherweight title.

Jamaica’s former World Boxing Association (WBA) Super featherweight champion Nicholas “Axe man” Walters is set to continue his comeback later this month, when he squares off with American Joseph Adorno, at the White Sands Events Center in Plant City, Florida.

Walters, who went into retirement shortly after he lost his unbeaten record to former pound for pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko in a seven-round bout in November 2016, will be hoping to extend his winning momentum on return to the ring for his 2024 debut on Wednesday, March 27. 

The 38-year-old Walters had comeback victories over Luis Marmol in Colombia February 2023, and Reynaldo Esquivia, nine months later, and another against Adorno would certainly add impetus to his charge going forward.

Although he doesn’t have a particular opponent that he craves, Walters hopes to get in the mix for big fights after this rust-shedding exercise.

“My plan is to go down to 135, where the real warriors are fighting – all the big names. Being a world champion at 135 and a double-world champ [is the goal],” Walters said in a previous interview.

The Panama-based Walters boasts a ring record of 28 wins (22 kos) against one loss and one draw, while Adorno has 18 wins (15 kos) against three losses and two draws.

Walters had turned pro in 2008 after an amateur career that included bronze at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and two gold medals at the Caribbean Championships in 2005 and 2006. Within a few years he became one of the world’s most exciting fighters of the lower weight divisions after defeating big names like Nonito Donaire and Vic Darchinyan.

Originally from Montego Bay on Jamaica’s north coast, Walters became the first Jamaican ever to win a world boxing title at home when he defeated Daulis Prescott via a seventh round TKO to cop the WBA World Featherweight title in December 2012.

Jamaica’s former WBA Super world featherweight champion Nicholas ‘Axe Man’ Walters says he was encouraged to return to the ring by several trainers in Panama where he is based.

The 37-year-old is set to break a six-year layoff with an eight-round super lightweight bout this Saturday in Santa Marta, Colombia, against local fighter Luis Diaz Marmol.

In recent years, Walters had been visiting the boxing gym to keep in shape but admits he “wasn’t really serious about fighting” until experts around the gym encouraged him to come out of retirement.

“After sparring with other fighters here in Panama, my coach and other coaches asked me to come back to the sport,” Walters said.

“I was making it very difficult for the guys that I was sparring with, so everyone was saying I should make a comeback,” added Walters, who boasts a solid ring record of 26 wins (21 kos) against one loss and one draw.

The 29-year-old Marmol brings an aggressive style to this Walters bout and upset unbeaten Colombian prospect Diego Silva his last time out. Marmol has a ring record of 19 wins (11 kos) against 16 losses.

Originally from Montego Bay on Jamaica’s north coast, Walters became the first Jamaican ever to win a world boxing title at home when he defeated Daulis Prescott on December 8, 2012 in Kingston via a seventh round TKO. He will be fighting for the first time since 2016 but has been actively training for months.

Walters has also enlisted the services of well-respected manager Gabriel Barron as he returns in a weight class 14 pounds above his title-winning featherweight division. In his last bout on November 20, 2016, Walters quit against Vasiliy Lomachenko after being dominated by the outstanding Ukrainian for seven rounds in Nevada, USA.

Walters had turned pro in 2008 after an amateur career that included bronze at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and two gold medals at the Caribbean Championships in 2005 and 2006. Within a few years he became one of the world’s most exciting fighters of the lower weight divisions after defeating big names like Nonito Donaire and Vic Darchinyan.