Santiago Nieva will be the new Boxing Australia national coach to lead the next generation of Aussie stars in the sweet science.

Sweden’s Santiago Nieva has been appointed as the National Head Coach for Australia’s boxing high performance program.

Announced today by CombatAUS and Boxing Australia, Nieva will commence the role in June 2022.

Nieva comes to the Australian boxing high performance ranks after a successful tenure as High Performance Director and Men’s Head Coach of the Indian National Team.

Before this, Nieva held Head Coach roles with both the Swedish National Team and Argentine National Team programs.

CombatAUS Chief Executive Officer Alex Vallentine is excited about Nieva’s appointment and is delighted to welcome him to CombatAUS’ high performance boxing program.

“We’re really pleased to have been able to recruit a coach of this calibre to lead the boxing high performance program in Australia, building upon the success delivered by outgoing coach Kevin Smith.”

“Santiago brings significant international coaching experience and possesses a huge amount of technical and tactical knowledge. His experience, knowledge and background both as a coach and an elite boxer have him well placed to provide high level leadership and direction to our program and athletes.”

Boxing Australia’s President Ted Tanner echoed Vallentine’s sentiments regarding Nieva’s appointment.

“We welcome Santiago Nieva to this role leading the high performance program and are incredibly excited to see him working closely with our athletes to achieve success on the world stage. Santiago is a very experienced and well regarded coach on the international scene and I’m pleased he is now part of the Australian program.”

The core purpose of the National Head Coach role is to provide world-class technical coaching to elite boxing athletes, and Nieva is keen to make a start.