* The Ferrari 458 Spider belongs to kickboxer Riyadh Al-Azzawi
* It reportedly cost £4,000 to cover the car with gold vinyl
* It was snapped while the fighter was training at a nearby gym
Supercars are always something of a status symbol and Ferraris come pretty high up even that lofty hierarchy.
However, for kickboxing world champion Riyadh Al-Azzawi just buying one of the flashest cars on the market isn’t enough.
The Iraqi fighter went even further, wrapping his £200,000 458 Spider with gold vinyl – for the comparably reasonable price tag of £4,000.
[full]These snaps were taken when Mr Al-Azzawi parked the Italian supercar outside a gym in Kensignton, London, where he was training and it wasn’t long before it attracted crowds of gawping onlookers.
Tim Burton, who runs the YouTube car channel Shmee150, which makes videos about supercars seen around the capital, said: ‘I’ve seen some pretty exciting cars roaming the streets of London, but a golden Ferrari is about as bold as you can get.
‘If you want to cause a scene, this is the way to do it.’
The Ferrari 458 Spider is the convertible version of the popular supercar which is widely regarded as one of the greatest cars built by the Italian firm.
It is powered by a 4.5-litre V8 engine which, located behind the driver, develops a whopping 562bhp.
This gives it a 0-62mph time of 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 199mph.
Mr Al-Azzawi took up kickboxing when he was 13 and became Iraq national champion six times and Arabic champion twice before moving to the UK. He quickly become British champion twice over before moving on to claim the European title.
He won his world-champion belt in 2008 and has defended it against all challengers since, he currently has a career record of 47 wins out of 47 bouts, with 35 knockouts.
The fighter said his ambition is to unite Iraq through kickboxing and to defend his title in his home country.
He also hit the headlines in 2008 after the death of singer Suzanne Tamim, with who he was close friends, some reports even claimed they had been married before her death.
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