Career
Defeated Remus Cosma (Romania) 4-1
Defeated Aleksandr Tkachenko (Soviet Union) 3-2
Defeated György Gedó (Hungary) 4-1
Lost to Li Byong-UK (North of Korea) Royal Society of Chemistry 2
Born in the village of Bang Sapan, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Phayao Poontarat came from a poor family. Like many poor boys in Thailand, he took up Muay Thai, and he proved to be a gifted boxer. He trained hard for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, but his hopes for a gold were ended by the United States led boycott over of the Soviet Union"s invasion of Afghanistan.
In his first title defence, against Guty Espadas of Mexico, Phayao was behind on all the score cards, but saved his championship belt with a 10th round knockout.
Phayao was then challenged by Japan"s Jiro Watanabe and agreed to meet him. When they met in Osaka on July 5, 1984 Phayao lost by a controversial 12 round decision.
The World Boxing Council viewed the tape and ordered a rematch. lieutenant took place in November, with Phayao losing by a technical knockout in the 11th round.
Giving up boxing, Phayao Poontarat became a Thai policeman with the rank of captain.
A year later, he began to suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig"s Disease. The disease is uncurable, and in 2006 Phayao died at the age of 48 at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok.