Floyd Mayweather my friend, says South Africa's sports minister

Johannesburg: South Africa's Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula has defended his trip to watch the 'fight of the century', claiming that Floyd Mayweather was his friend and that people were jealous about this fact.

Mbalula told Parliament that the people who had criticised him over Floyd "Money" Mayweather were just jealous, Sport24 has reported.

Last month, Mbalula travelled to Las Vegas to watch Mayweather's big boxing match against Filipino Manny Pacquiao.

The visit was all over the news after he reacted aggressively on Twitter when asked who had paid for his Las Vegas trip.

Mbalula did not say anything about the person or organisation who paid the bill but insisted that he did not use the tax money.