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A History of Floyd Mayweather and Justin Bieber's Friendship

 What’s up, guys? Frazier Tharpe here for Complex News. Floyd Mayweather is no stranger to beefs. Over the last few years, he’s been involved in altercations—both physical and verbal—with everyone from 50 Cent and T.I. to Adrien Broner and, of course, Conor McGregor. But his latest beef might also be his most surprising, as it sounds like Mayweather is no longer on good terms with longtime friend Justin Bieber. Mayweather and Bieber reportedly had a falling out recently after Bieber started going to counseling at his church and began taking a closer look at the people he surrounds himself with on a daily basis. According to a TMZ Sports report, he decided that he wanted to distance himself from Mayweather, and that led to Mayweather going “nuclear” and calling Bieber a “traitor” when he learned Bieber had unfollowed him on Instagram. So how did we arrive at this point in their relationship? Well, Mayweather and Bieber’s friendship actually goes all the way back to early 2012 when they met for the first time. There are conflicting reports about how it happened, with TMZ once reporting that Mayweather reached out to Bieber after seeing his movie, Never Say Never, and Mashable later reporting that they were first introduced after showing a mutual interest in investing in a mobile gaming company called RockLive. But regardless of how they actually met, Mayweather and Bieber became close quickly in spite of their 17-year age difference. In May 2012, Bieber accompanied Mayweather to the ring before his fight against Miguel Cotto and was one of the first people to congratulate him after his victory. Bieber followed that up by walking Mayweather out to the ring again before his September 2013 fight against Canelo Alvarez, and from there, the two started hanging out on a regular basis. In October 2013, Mayweather and Bieber made it rain at a strip club in Houston. In May 2014, they enjoyed a spa day together. And Bieber continued to walk Mayweather out before his fights as a full-fledged member of The Money Team, accompanying him to the ring for his match with Marcos Maidana in May 2014. But Mayweather and Bieber really solidified their relationship in June 2014. At the beginning of that month, Mayweather defended Bieber after an old video of him telling a racist joke surfaced. Mayweather released a statement on Twitter supporting his friend. “Justin has been nothing but kind to me, my daughters & sons over the years. We all make mistakes when we are young, it’s part of growing up.” Mayweather also continued to defend Bieber when another old video of him using the N-word surfaced a short time later. And later that month, Bieber returned the favor when he helped comfort Mayweather’s kids after a car accident in Los Angeles. Mayweather was on the red carpet at the BET Awards when the accident took place, and he called Bieber and asked him if he could go and check it out. Bieber sprung into action and headed over the scene to take care of Mayweather’s kids and even played some of his new music to keep them calm. The positive vibes continued for Mayweather and Bieber over the next two years. Mayweather gave Bieber private boxing lessons in October 2014 and gave him the nickname “Money Bags” in the process. He also invited Bieber to his big fight with Manny Pacquiao in May 2015. And after Bieber defended Mayweather in a Complex cover story in the fall of 2015, Mayweather took Bieber with him when he went on vacation to Bora Bora. But Mayweather and Bieber have seemingly grown apart in recent months, and over the last month in particular, it feels like there has been tension between the two. Mayweather has sidestepped questions about Bieber potentially accompanying him to the ring before his upcoming fight with Conor McGregor on a number of occasions, and Bieber recently said that he doesn’t think Mayweather is going to knock McGregor out during the fight. And all of that leads us to where we are today, with Mayweather and Bieber reportedly at odds over Bieber’s decision to u