It's Showtime Lyon: Badr Hari to Headline Event; Petrosyan, Spong Featured

It's Showtime has officially announced a number of bouts for the May 14th event to be held in Lyon, France. Kader Marouf Presents: It's Showtime will host a number of the sport's top fighters and should offer some rather intriguing bouts when it takes place at the Palais des Sports in Lyon.

At the top of the card, Badr Hari will make his return against French heavyweight Tony Gregory. Long a fighter lost in the mix of European kickboxers, Gregory made the shift to boxing a number of years ago and amassed a solid record in France until running into European heavyweight prospect Robert Helenius in Germany last August. For his part, Badr Hari has not seen action since getting disqualified against Hesdy Gerges last May in a bout for the It's Showtime heavyweight title.

Tyrone Spong will see action against Croatia's Igor Mihaljevic in another heavyweight bout. The Croatian has somewhat of a slow, lumbering style that should play right into making this every bit the showcase bout for Spong that one might expect. Spong, now fighting strictly at heavyweight, last appeared at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 Final, where he was defeated in the quarterfinals by eventual champion Alistair Overeem.

Reports indicate that Daniel Ghita will still be meeting Hesdy Gerges in the first week of March, and it seems that the Romanian heavyweight will not be remaining away from the ring for long, as he scheduled to meet Paul Slowinski in Lyon. The Polish-Australian Slowinski is riding a three fight win streak, one which will be in jeopardy well before he steps into the ring on May 14th, as he gets a second shot at Thor Hoopman this weekend in Australia.

Lyon will also be graced by the height of the middleweight division, as reigning K-1 MAX champion Giorgio Petrosyan is set to meet Chahid Oulad el Hadj in a 70kg. bout. El Hadj has gained a fair amount of recognition on the strength of last year's bout against Mike Zambidis -- and quite correctly so. The Moroccan-Dutch standout is definitely an action fighter, and his general willingness to engage should make for an exciting bout against Petrosyan. Petrosyan's most recent opponent, Sudsakorn Sor. Klinmee, was among the fighters that El Hadj lost while having a pretty rough go of things in late 2009 and early 2010.

In addition to the overall 70kg. kingpin, the event in Lyon will feature promotional champion Chris Ngimbi, as he defends his title in a bout against French Muay Thai fighter Willy Borrel. Borrel has competed in regional K-1 MAX tournaments and had a pretty successful run in full contact karate from what I understand. He definitely has some skill, but I've seen video of him abandoning technique and really sticking his chin out there. What ever Ngimbi detractors might say, this really could end up being another highlight finish for the It's Showtime champion.

Marat Grigorian will meet Abderrahmane Penda at 70kg. in the final bout announced thus far for the card. The Armenian Grigorian is also scheduled to meet Henri van Opstal on the March 26th card in Brussels. In Penda, Grigorian will be facing a tough French opponent who has fought much of his career at higher weight classes and found some success in the European Muay Thai scene.

Watch Simon Rutz and Kader Marouf after the jump.