George Zimmerman reportedly punched for bragging about Trayvon Martin shooting

The former neighbourhood watch volunteer who became a nationwide pariah for killing a 17-year-old black teenager was allegedly punched in the face at a Florida restaurant after bragging about the shooting this week.

George Zimmerman, 32, told police on Sunday that he was explaining how he acted in self-defence when he shot Trayvon Martin in 2012.

Restaurant staff and witnesses claim this was not the case and Mr Zimmerman was actually bragging about the killing.

In an emergency services dispatch call obtained by WFTV, Mr Martin can be heard explaining his side of events.

"This man just punched me in the face," Mr Zimmerman said.

"He said he was going to kill me. You need to send three or four cops."

Witnesses told police that Mr Zimmerman announced himself as the man cleared on self-defence grounds of killing Trayvon Martin.

Restaurant owner Edward Winters said the scuffle was over in a relatively short period of time.

"They shoved each other and that was the end," he told New York Daily News.

"He said, ‘You don’t know who I am, do you?’ And Zimmerman said, ‘I’m George Zimmerman.'"

Mr Zimmerman has had several run ins with the law since being acquitted of murdering Mr Martin, including a road rage incident in which he was shot.

He has also been arrested twice for domestic incidents, which include reportedly throwing a bottle of wine at a former girlfriend's head. That charge was dropped after she recanted her story.

In May, Mr Zimmerman sold the handgun he used to shoot Mr Martin in an online auction for $346,000.