Former featherweight world champion Nicholas Walters (29-1-1, 22 KOs) scored a commanding unanimous decision victory over Joseph Adorno (18-4-2, 15 KOs) on Wednesday, in his first televised fight in more than seven years.

Walters disappeared from the boxing landscape after suffering a stoppage loss in a challenge of junior lightweight titleholder Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2016. He resurfaced last year with two comeback fights against little-known opposition in Colombia, following a six-year stretch of ring inactivity.

Walters, 38, returned in this week’s “Wednesday Night Fights” main event in Plant City, Florida, outpacing Adorno in a lightweight scrap that the judges saw for Walters, 95-94, 97-92 and 98-91.

After an uneventful first round, Walters took the center of the ring and began establishing his jab. He continued to back up Adorno with a stiff left jab, and he ensured not to waste his work when he landed a right to the body. A similar shot caught Adorno’s attention, who responded by whiffing on a loaded-up combination. Walters kept stinging his opponent with his left, ending the round with a smart counter jab.

Walters looked a class above starting the fourth, varying his body shots and continuing to press the pace. Adorno landed a good body shot and a double-left to the body that seemed to earn Walters' respect. Adorno landed another good body combination to close the round.

In the fifth, Adorno’s confidence swelled, and he fired off a nifty combination in the first minute. But Walters, showing his ring presence, regained control and chopped to the body through the bell.

In the sixth, Adorno landed an overhand right upstairs that shook Walters, and appeared to have even possibly broken his nose. The younger fighter landed a good uppercut to close out one of his best rounds.

Walters pressed forward in the eighth as Adorno’s punch output slipped. Although Adorno landed a good right hand with a minute left, Walters took the round with his busy

Adorno answered Walters’ pressure in the ninth round with a quick left to the head. But Walters kept coming, stabbing with his jab and thumping Adorno’s body with the right hand. Adorno did himself no favors when he landed a jab after the bell, for which he was deducted a point.

Walters started the 10th by landing a right hand to the head, and Adorno quickly responded in kind. But Walters showed his pedigree with a number of body-to-uppercut combinations. A sneaky right hand landed on Adorno’s head near the midway point, and Walters walked down his opponent while landing an array of shots until the final bell.