Dutch Boxing prospect Gradus Kraus wins IBF European Light-Heavyweight title with brutal KO

The Netherlands’ brightest Boxing prospect, Gradus Kraus, son of the first K-1 World MAX Grand Prix champion Albert Kraus, headlined a GBM Sports card in Rotterdam last weekend and captured the IBF European Light-Heavyweight title with a second-round knockout.
He’s now 9–0 (8 KO) at just 24 years old.

In 2018, Gradus Kraus won his first gold medal in the Dutch Youth National Boxing Championships.
As an amateur, Gradus had mixed success. He failed to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics, but he did pull off a massive upset in 2023 when he beat Arlen López Cardona, a two-time Olympic gold medalist (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020) and winner of the 2015 Boxing World Championships.
López had 157 wins in 184 amateur bouts and is widely considered one of Cuba’s most accomplished boxers of his generation, so that win really says a lot.

Since turning pro last year, Kraus has been on a tear, knocking out almost everyone they’ve put in front of him. His early opponents were mostly cans, sure, but lately he’s been stepping up.
He dominated and dropped a game Cruiserweight (Scott Forrest) in his second-to-last fight, and last weekend he absolutely dog-walked a credible opponent in Rostam Ibrahim, putting him out cold for minutes, to win the IBF European title.
He’s clearly coming into his own.

Gradus originally started his combat sports career in Kickboxing, just like his father Albert Kraus, and after winning multiple youth championships he was seen as a top Dutch prospect before fully switching to Boxing a few years ago.
He’s trained by Albert Kraus, Dennis Krauweel (head coach of GLORY Heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven), and by Peter Fury (Tyson Fury’s uncle). Peter’s son, Hughie Fury, fought in the co-main event on the same card.

His promoter Izzy Asif (GBM Sports) and Peter Fury both say publicly that they believe Gradus is ready for the top Light-Heavyweights already, and that division is absolutely stacked, so the next steps will be very interesting.
He even called out Ben Whittaker after the fight.

He’s also getting a ton of attention in the Dutch media, and several of his knockouts and walkouts with his young daughter have gone viral internationally.

Fun fact: His home gym, Team Kraus, is based in Oss, the same city as my own gym, Lauzon Sports.

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Some previous Gradus Kraus highlights for anyone who hasn’t seen him fight yet:

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Jup, crazy huh.
Albert Kraus has been a grandpa for 4 years already hahah (he’s only 45yo).

Gradus and his wife have baby number two on the way btw:

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I also do have a funny story for you @UnleashtheFURY
Back when I was like 14 years old, me and Gradus actually squared off on a football field over whose friend group got to use it. I was way bigger at the time, but I knew damn well who that kid was and what family he comes from, so I was smart enough to keep it friendly, lol.

 

Peter Fury on Gradus Kraus, interviewed by my journalist-colleague Giovanni Tjin:

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LoL