Super Pro began in a martial arts shop in Rotterdam. There, in 1978, the foundations were laid for a name that would grow alongside Dutch boxing and kickboxing. From Super Pro Boxing Gear to Super Pro Combat Gear: the equipment reached more and more gyms, while trainers and fighters came to play an important role in the brand's development.
Several worlds come together in this story. Rotterdam's boxing tradition, the work of trainer Dennis Krauweel, Rico Verhoeven's involvement and Sportief BV's production experience each brought something of their own. The international relaunch in Munich in 2019 gave that combination a new stage.
It starts in a Rotterdam shop
Super Pro's history goes back to a martial arts shop that opened in Rotterdam in 1978. The city had a strong connection to boxing. The brand's history names Bep van Klaveren, Regilio Tuur and Don Diego Poeder as examples of Rotterdam's boxing scene. They belong to different generations, but together they show the sporting environment in which the name emerged.
A shop serves a practical purpose in that environment. Athletes come in for equipment and bring their questions about training and gear. They try on a glove, inspect the finish of a punching bag and talk about what is used in the gym. That contact with the everyday life of the sport provided the backdrop against which the brand developed.
After the shop came Super Pro Boxing Gear. The name made the connection to boxing clear from the start. Its roots were local and Dutch, but the equipment later found an audience beyond Rotterdam and the Netherlands. A shop's story grew into a brand's history.
Super Pro Boxing Gear develops its own identity
The original name says something about the brand's early identity. Boxing Gear stood for equipment from the world of boxing: gloves, gym equipment and gear used to prepare for a fight. Super Pro grew out of that familiar sporting environment.
The slogan The champions choice was added. It was the short brand promise Super Pro used to present itself. The words connect the equipment with athletes' ambitions and the appeal of the competitive world. A champion is visible in the ring, but most of the work happens in training beforehand.
The name Super Pro Combat Gear reflects a broader range of sports. Kickboxing and other martial arts training found a place alongside boxing in the brand’s world. Its boxing roots remained recognizable, while the equipment also found a place with trainers and athletes who combine punches and kicks.
Four moments in the development
Super Pro grew through a shop, a trainer and a partnership in production and distribution. Four moments trace the main stages of that development.
- 1978: the Rotterdam shop. The opening of a martial arts shop marks the beginning of the history that led to Super Pro Boxing Gear.
- The Dennis Krauweel era. The kickboxing trainer takes responsibility for the brand and later continues with it independently. Through the competition scene, the name reaches a wider audience.
- 2018: partnership with Sportief BV. Knowledge of the sport and its equipment is combined with experience in production and distribution.
- February 2019: relaunch in Munich. Super Pro gets a new international presentation at the ISPO sports trade fair.
Dennis Krauweel brings the world of trainers closer
Dennis Krauweel plays a central role in the next phase. In the more detailed history of the brand, that transition began in the late 1990s, when the shop and the brand were taken over by new owners. Krauweel was put in charge of Super Pro and later continued with it independently.
His work as a kickboxing trainer brought a different kind of experience. A trainer sees equipment through long weeks of training, competition preparation and work with different athletes. Pads need to keep up with combinations, protective gear needs to absorb techniques, and athletes need to be able to move comfortably. This is the everyday setting in which equipment proves its worth.
Super Pro also gained visibility around the Super League events, which were broadcast in Europe. The brand traveled with the international kickboxing world in which Krauweel was active. The move from a Rotterdam shop to the wider competition scene made the name familiar to a new audience.
Rico Verhoeven: from first gear to helping shape the equipment
The connection with Rico Verhoeven gives the story a personal continuation. Super Pro says on its official brand page that, as a child, Verhoeven bought his first equipment from the brand with his father. The story thus began with a young athlete who needed gear to train.
At seventeen, Verhoeven did an internship with Dennis Krauweel. That internship also introduced him to equipment development. He learned how the products were made, contributed ideas for improvements and tested prototypes. The athlete was therefore not just a face next to a logo, but also someone who could bring his experience back into the equipment.
It is an interesting connection between a career and a brand. The young athlete develops, training demands change and his experience with equipment grows. Super Pro describes Verhoeven as a sparring partner in product development. His involvement thus connects with the training environment Krauweel brought to the partnership.
Sportief brings its own manufacturing history
In 2018, Dennis Krauweel and Sportief BV began working together. Krauweel brought his experience with the sport, trainers and fighters. Sportief added its knowledge of manufacturing and distributing martial arts equipment. Different areas of work came together within the same sporting world.
Sportief has its own origins. In the late 1970s, the company started out in a garage in Eindhoven. Punching bags and kicking shields became central to its development. From that base, its manufacturing activities and range of other martial arts equipment grew.
Rotterdam and Eindhoven therefore belong to different strands of the story. The Super Pro store and brand story began in Rotterdam. The manufacturing company Sportief developed from Eindhoven. With the partnership in 2018, those two paths came together, followed by a new international presentation.
A new presentation at ISPO in Munich
The partnership was followed by a period of preparation. In February 2019, Super Pro was reintroduced internationally at ISPO in Munich. The brand's historical catalogue identifies that trade show as the moment of its relaunch.
A sports trade show is a different setting from a fight night. Here, a brand meets the people who buy equipment, sell it and bring it to new markets. The focus is on the connection between the sporting world and the business behind it: products, presentation, production and distribution.
Super Pro brought an established history to the trade show floor. The name already had roots in Rotterdam and a connection to kickboxing. The relaunch gave that background a new presentation, supported by the partnership between Krauweel and Sportief. It was a new chapter for a brand that had written its first chapters long ago.
The gym connects the different generations
The ring is the visible stage, but the gym connects the different parts of the story. It is where the trainer, the athlete and the equipment come together time and again. A new combination starts with an instruction, is repeated on the pads and then becomes part of further training.
That environment is also reflected in Super Pro’s equipment. Punching bags, punching mitts and kicking shields belong on the training floor. Handwraps and boxing apparel are part of an athlete’s preparation. The individual products are part of the same routine, whether training takes place in a large gym or a smaller training space.
The connection with trainers and athletes gives the brand’s story a practical character. Krauweel’s experience as a trainer, Verhoeven’s contribution to prototypes and Sportief’s production background each have their own place. Together, they show how experience in the sport and equipment manufacturing can come together.
A Dutch name with many chapters
Super Pro grew from Rotterdam’s boxing scene into a broader presence in martial arts. The store founded in 1978, the work of Dennis Krauweel and the involvement of Rico Verhoeven give that development recognizable people and moments. The partnership with Sportief added another kind of expertise.
The brand’s story is therefore about more than a date on a product. It is about a store where athletes came to get their equipment, a trainer who uses it every day and an athlete who, alongside training, learns to contribute to its development. The relaunch in Munich brought those different experiences back into the spotlight.
A clear thread runs from Boxing Gear to Combat Gear: equipment for the sport, developed in a world of gyms, trainers and competitions. Its Dutch origins remain evident, while the Super Pro name has spread beyond the original store.
