This time there was no recovery from a second round knock-down for Anthony Mundine as he surrendered his World Boxing Association super middleweight title on a split points decision to mandatory challenger Manny Siaca.

Making the second defence of his title, Mundine was floored in the second round as he was in his previous fight against Japan's Yoshinoi Nishizawa.

Japanese judge Takeshi Shimikawa scored the fight 114-113 in Mundine's favour, Sweden's Mikael Hook and Korea's Wangsup Shim both had the challenger winning 115-113.

It was a world title at the fourth attempt for the 28-year-old Puerto Rican who pushed the pace for much of the fight.

Mundine employed a similar strategy to that which served him well when he won the vacant title against American Atwun Echols last September, utilising plenty of lateral movement and relying primarily on the jab.

He occasionally tagged the challenger with more powerful punches but wasn't not able to assert himself.

Siaca, who entered the ring in a Wallabies jersey, put Mundine down with a left to the head as the bell sounded to end the second round.

American referee Raul Caiz, who was a late replacement for Panamanian Guillermo Pineda, applied a standing eight count after Mundine bounced back to his feet almost immediately.

Siaca said after the bout he would be prepared to give Mundine a rematch.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP