(REUTERS) - South African boxer Mzwanele Kompolo has died after a first-round knockout in a fight on Tuesday, the country's sports ministry said.

Kompolo, 22, was floored by Siphenathi Qampi in the bout sanctioned by Boxing South Africa and later collapsed.

He was treated at the ringside, before he was taken to hospital in Frere in the Eastern Cape province. But he never regained consciousness.

Another boxer, David Browne Jr of Australia, died on Tuesday after he was knocked out in a regional title bout, prompting a call for a ban on the sport by the Australian Medical Association.

Kompolo is the second death in boxing in South Africa inside a year after female boxer Phindile Mwelase suffered bleeding to the brain after a bout last October.

Kompolo's death could mount fresh pressure on the country's sports ministry to provide a sharper focus on the industry, after it admitted it is still investigating the circumstances around the death of Mwelase some 12 months on from the incident.

Boxing is popular in South Africa with many young adults seeing it as a way out of poverty.