Former world boxing champion Chartchai Chionoi's condition has improved, doctors said yesterday.
Chartchai Chionoi, right, and WBC president Jose Sulaiman.
Chartchai, one of Thailand's greatest boxers, has been hospitalised at Bangkok's Nopparatrajthanee hospital since he was moved from Chiang Mai earlier this week.
The 71-year-old is suffering from sceptic shock and other symptoms including lung inflammation, malnutrition and Parkinson's disease, said Uthai Tanslaruk, director of Nopparatrajthanee hospital.
"He has responded well to the medicine," he said.
"His condition should improve but we need to monitor his health closely."
Chartchai's son Charanroj said that his father was admitted to San Kamphaeng hospital in Chiang Mai on Dec 30 but his condition got worse so he was sent to Bangkok.
Chartchai is Thailand's second world boxing champion after the late Pone Kingpetch. He won the WBC flyweight title for the first time in December, 1966 with a ninth-round knockout victory over Walter McGowan of Scotland.
Since then, he successfully defended the title four times before losing to Mexico's Efren Torres in February 1969.
Thirteen months later, he beat Torres to win back the belt and then lost it only in his first defence against Erbito Salavarria of the Philippines in the second round.
In 1973, he was crowned the WBA flyweight champion after stopping Switzerland's Fritz Chervet in the fifth round to win the vacant title.
He made two successful defences before being stripped of the title because of weight problems ahead of his fight against Susumu Hanagata in Japan in October 1974.
Denkaosan retains title Thailand's Denkaosan Kaovichit successfully defended his Paba super-flyweight title with a unanimous win over Indonesia's Galih Susanto at a makeshift stadium at Bangkok Thonburi University yesterday. The 36-year-old former world champion comfortably won 119-109, 118-110 and 119-109 after 12 rounds.
Denkaosan, who is third in the WBA ranking, is expected to get a title shot in an attempt to win back the world crown soon.