RENO, Nev. -- Former boxer and referee Mills Lane is surprising his doctor with his recovery from a stroke a week ago.

He still can't talk, but he's able to sip a little red wine, enjoy chocolate ice cream, laugh at "The Godfather" and wish his nurses would quit pestering him, his sons said on Sunday.

"He gets really annoyed at the nurses, but his spirits are really good. They've improved since I've seen him," his son Terry said in the first public appearance by his family since Lane was stricken.

Lane, 64, collapsed at his home last weekend while his wife was out of town. Colleagues found him on Monday and he was rushed to Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center.

"The stroke was a moderate stroke and the doctor said he had never seen anybody come this far this fast with his kind of stroke," his son Tommy said.

"We gave him a small glass of red wine last night and chocolate ice cream -- he loves that -- so he's getting back into the swing of things. We watched `The Godfather,' one of his favorite movies. A couple of scenes he starts laughing."

Lane still cannot speak and has trouble standing -- both a source of his irritation with his nurses -- and movement on his right side is limited. His left side is fairly mobile, Tommy said, which is good news for a man who always fought southpaw.

Lane, a former district judge and NCAA boxing champion, gained national attention when he disqualified Mike Tyson for biting off part of Evander Holyfield's ear in 1997.

He left the ring and the bench to start a TV show in 1998 and open a Reno law firm.

In December 2000, he began a boxing promotion company, Let's Get It On Inc., named for his classic command that started scores of championship fights.

The company staged its first bout a year ago, the same month his syndicated TV show, "Judge Mills Lane," was canceled.

Tommy, who turned 15 on Thursday and Terry, who will be 19 on Friday, stood in for their mother Kaye, who was with Lane.

Both boys go to school in the New York City area and their father has family there as well, so Lane will be transferred in a few days to the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, which focuses on therapeutic and rehabilitative care.

"He'll be there a few months, then he'll be coming back to Reno," Tommy Lane said.

"He's very proud and we think it would be best that when people see him they see him as the Mills Lane that they used to know, not the guy who's recovering from a stroke."