Moscow will host some top kickboxing talent on the night of April 9th, as the W5 Grand Prix K.O. event is set to feature a four-man tournament at the 71 kg. weight limit. The tournament field will consist of Mike Zambidis, Dzhabar Askerov, William Diender, and Enriko Gogokhia. Preliminary bouts will pit Mike Zambidis against Enriko Gogokhia and Dzhabar Askerov against William Diender.

Mike Zambidis will enter the tournament a clear favorite, coming off his March 12th dismantling of Ali Gunyar in Greece and looking ahead to third bout against John Wayne Parr in late May. Among the other competitors, Zambidis has only met Dzhabar Askerov, who he defeated by majority decision in late 2009. You can view that fight in two parts here (Part 1, Part 2). That 2009 victory began a string of good results for Zambidis, who has gone 4-1 since and lost only to Giorgio Petrosyan in the semifinal round of the K-1 World MAX 2010 Final.

Dzhabar Askerov is also coming off of a March 12th win as he defeated Dutch fighter Chris van Venrooij by first round knockout in their tournament bout at the Fight Code: Oktagon 2011 event in Milan, Italy. Askerov has posted a 9-3 record since his 2009 loss to Mike Zambidis, largely against lesser competition. Fellow tournament entrant William Diender is among the fighters Askerov has defeated since that, as he beat Diender by decision following an extension round under the It’s Showtime banner last May.

William Diender will return to action having defeated rival Rachid Belaini at It’s Showtime: Sporthallen Zuid Amsterdam on March 6th. Diender’s record is not the most impressive around and he has consistently lost to top competition throughout the years, but he is a hard-hitting fighter with the terrible combination of toughness and defensive deficiencies that a lot of fans find quite intriguing. The highlight of his career? Probably his 2-1 record against Gago Drago.

Enriko Gogokhia enters this tournament as somewhat of the odd man out. Despite his east European heritage, it’s difficult to say just how much you can identify the Ukrainian as the hometown fighter with Dzhabar Askerov in the field. While Gogokhia may not be known by a lot of fans, he has enjoyed a bit of success at lower weight classes in Muay Thai and has competed in regional K-1 events. In fact, Gogokhia made it to the semifinals of two K-1 tournaments in 2010, being eliminated by Vitaly Gurkov in the K-1 World MAX 2010 East Europe Tournament and leaving the KOK World Grand Prix in Warsaw following his quarterfinal victory over Johny Tancray because of injury.

Source: http://www.fansofk1.com/