As Callum Peters touched down at Adelaide Airport, walked off the chartered Olympic flight and up a ramp, he only had eyes for his mum, Cassie, who was waiting patiently inside the terminal.

The mother and her 21-year-old son embraced and reluctantly let go after a period where the length of the poignant hug rivalled the two months between a teary farewell and a far happier greeting at the gate.

"I haven't hugged you for ages," Peters turns to tell reporters capturing the heartfelt moment.

"It feels good because mum has given me the support and showed me her love.

"It's so good to be home … it feels great to have her home energy back with me."

They almost forget the cameras were focused on the deeply private moment that was not created for TV.

The soft side of the courageous fighter displayed in the maternal cuddle quickly turned in a sign of a heartbeat of the very mention of his Paris bout.

The instinct of Peters having felt dudded in the first-round clash with the 80kg world amateur champion, Nurbeck Oralbay, comes back to the fore of his mind.

The stare in the eyes almost deadpans his resolve.

But speaking about losing the controversial points decision that outraged social media back home as much as it did the Paris crowd, a calm Peters responds tactfully, akin to acting on advice of his trainer.

"I didn't get the decision I wanted," Peters admits.

"But it's all about a learning process.

"It was a learning experience for me to get better and better.

"I look for great stuff to learn from."

Coming back empty handed almost mirrors the Indigenous boxer from Davoren Park, nearby the working-class area of Elizabeth, of how he felt on the flight home from the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Except the rookie Peters returned with a bittersweet silver medal from Birmingham.

While the North Central club fighter moved on from copping another controversial blow on the chin, he refuses to bow and lie down on the canvas from the experience with his fierce Kazakh rival.

"I'm going to train even harder," Peters promises.

"I've got stuff to work on.

"(To) become a greater athlete and a greater boxer."

That doesn't mean just turning pro just yet amid the possibilities of the cash riches.

That can't buy you everything after being convinced an Olympic medal is on the offering.

Four more years of training are in the plans to head to Los Angeles in 2028.

"Most definitely – 100 per cent," Peters says, accepting the challenge.

"I'm only 21 – I've got a long time to go.

"Just need to work on stuff and improve."

While Peters talks up a tough game, Cassie seemed to feel a sense of relief in the moments of her eldest son appearing in front of her.

While she turned up to the airport with one of Peters' sisters, she explained the toll that her son's absence has had in the household including that of the man, who first taught the dual Australian Games representative how to throw his first punch in the ring - and still even his last at the Kapunda gym.

"I'm just glad to have him home," she says.

"It feels like it has been a long time coming.

"His dad is really emotional – he's not really well at the moment.

"So it's been tough, I guess, having to be so far away and watch, and not be there for him."

Peters will join other South Australian Olympians and Paralympians for a special welcome home ceremony at Adelaide Oval next month.