Jamaica’s ex-WBA world featherweight champion Nicholas ‘Axe Man’ Walters ended more than six years of semi-retirement with a dominant points win over Colombian Luis Diaz Marmol in Santa Marta, Colombia on Saturday night.

Returning in a weight class 14 pounds above his title-winning featherweight division, Walters earned the unanimous decision over local favourite Marmol in the eight-round super lightweight (140-pound) main event. The official scorecard read 80-72 and 78-74 twice in favour of the 37-year-old from Montego Bay.

“Marmol was very game but the overall experience and skill level of Walters was the difference,” Fightnews web site reported about the Panama-based Jamaican.

“He did not show much effects of ring inactivity as he was in complete control.”

With the result, Walters improves his ring record to 27 wins (21 kos) against one loss and one draw and the 29-year-old Marmol’s log dips to 19 wins (11 kos) against 17 losses.

Walters said recently he was encouraged to return to the ring by several trainers in Panama. He 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.

Walters became the first Jamaican ever to win a world boxing title at home when he beat Colombian Daulis Prescott for the WBA’s 126-pound belt in December 2012 at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston.

Saturday night’s outing was his first since November 20, 2016, when he 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.

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.