By Rick Reeno
From top to bottom, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says the entire team behind Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31KOs) is very hungry to knock off Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26KOs) on May 3rd.
Maidana has been riding a hot streak of wins since hiring veteran trainer Robert Garcia, and recently adding strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza. Maidana's streak was accelerated with a dominating twelve round decision win over previously undefeated Adrien Broner to capture the WBA welterweight title last December in San Antonio.
"With one punch he can change the game. With one hit, you can go down. Now I don't know if he'll be able to land on Mayweather. Mayweather is going to have to fight the perfect fight. Can he fight the perfect fight? Of course he can. He is the best fighter of this generation or any generation. Is Maidana capable of connecting on him? Absolutely. And if Maidana connects on him......what will happen? That we don't know. But what we do know is what happened to every single other guy who fought Maidana and got hit - they went down. I think Maidana today is better than ever, he's more confident, he is energized with this statement win over Adrien Broner," Schaefer told BoxingScene.com.
Like Maidana, both Garcia and Ariza have been waiting for a very long time to get the opportunity to solve the Mayweather puzzle.
"Since he added Robert Garcia as his trainer, and Alex Ariza as his strength and conditioning coach, he's been on this impressive run. Against Broner, he kept up the pace in the entire fight. He didn't get tired, he kept the pressure on. And I think Alex and Robert are a big part of Team Maidana and those guys are hungry too. I know when Alex was part of Team Pacquiao, he was always licking his chops to somehow get a fight with Mayweather," Schaefer said.
"I think it's an interesting matchup. Maidana is like an energizer bunny, he keeps coming and coming and coming. Of course Floyd is the defensive wizard, but he knows how to go for the kill as well when the opportunity presents itself. I take my hat off to Floyd for picking this dangerous opponent. I know its going to be a terrific atmosphere, a big fight and a big pay-per-view. I can't wait."
