TAMPA — Amateur boxer Keith Mauga was told to leave a Gandy Boulevard bar in St. Petersburg last July after he argued with men near the pool tables. He later returned, ran up to one of those men outside and punched him in the face, court records allege.

The victim, who suffered a brain bleed, survived. Mauga, free on bail, awaits trial.

Eight months later, his name has come up anew over an April 11 clash outside a different Gandy Boulevard bar, this time in Tampa, where police are investigating the death of 40-year-old mural artist Matt Callahan.

No one has been charged. But Mauga's attorney in the earlier incident, Dirk Weed, confirmed to the Tampa Bay Times on Tuesday that he has been in contact with "several members of the police department" because witnesses indicated that his client was involved in an altercation with Callahan.

"He doesn't have a statement at this juncture," Weed said of Mauga. "It's still in the investigative stage."

A Tampa Police Department spokesman declined to confirm the interest in Mauga.

Weed said witnesses told him Callahan was the aggressor at the encounter outside Warehouse Liquor Store and Bar in Tampa.

Callahan's father, St. Petersburg lawyer Michael Callahan, said his law partner heard a different account from a bar employee.

The father said he learned of a one-sided feud that began a month ago over a game of pool. Mauga was eating wings between shots and Callahan asked that he hurry up. This angered Mauga, according to the account.

Callahan was back at that bar April 11, as was Mauga.

"My understanding is that Keith Mauga had some sort of a beef with Matt and expressed it, so Matt was attempting to apologize," Michael Callahan said. "They were both asked to leave out separate doors."

A female bar employee accompanied Callahan to his vehicle and urged him to go home, Michael Callahan said.

The employee saw Mauga approaching Callahan's vehicle, but Callahan told her he was just going to roll down the window to apologize, the father said.

The employee then went back into the bar to get her purse but when she returned less than a minute later she found Callahan lying in Gandy Boulevard's median, the father said.

That's where police found Callahan on his back with head trauma just after 3 a.m. Wednesday

"He was already mortally wounded," the father said.

Callahan was rushed to Tampa General Hospital but died Friday.

His murals can be seen on brick walls and tin siding in Tampa and St. Petersburg. One mural he painted with Angela Delaplane in 2015 called "St. Tampasburg'' covers the back-alley wall of The Lure restaurant, 661 Central Ave., and depicts scenes from the two cities' histories.

Michael Callahan said his son stood at 6-foot-3, weighed about 230 pounds and as a younger man, before murals paid the bills, used his size to work as a bouncer in Tampa.

"I'm told Matt was the type of guy who would just bear hug people and carry them out," he said. "He was not violent."

Mauga, 34, weighs 160 pounds, according to the arrest report that followed the earlier incident at the Sand Bar and Grill, 10056 Gandy Blvd., in St. Petersburg.

He bragged about being a boxer, a court record said.

That July 13 in St. Petersburg, an argument broke out near the pool tables between Mauga and customer Joshua Maville.

Mauga was ordered to leave and complied, the record states.

But when Maville and his friends later stepped outside, Mauga ran up and punched him, according to witnesses interviewed by St. Petersburg police.

Maville fell and hit his head on the concrete, the record said.

He suffered a brain bleed and multiple injuries to the face, required staples to the back of the head and spent two days at Bayfront Hospital.

Mauga, charged with aggravated battery, was released after posting a $20,000 bond, with his trial now set for June 6.

Senior news researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Contact Paul Guzzo at pguzzo@tampabay.com. Follow @PGuzzoTimes.