By Carlos Arias

LAS VEGAS --- Marcos Maidana appears to be physically in the best shape of his career heading into his showdown against Floyd Mayweather on Saturday night at the MGM Grand on Showtime PPV.

Maidana said a big reason for that was the addition of strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza to his camp.

"It's very, very important to have someone like Alex," Maidana said. "His work is very intensive. He's very professional. It's always great to have someone like him in your corner."

Maidana appears to be in even better shape than when he defeated Adrien Broner in December.

"It's just part of the workout," Maidana's trainer Robert Garcia said. "Alex did a tremendous job. We had a full training camp. The previous fight we only had the last three weeks to work with him. If everybody remembers we were all in Macau for three weeks Mikey (Garcia) and Brandon (Rios). For three weeks we were not with him. The last three weeks before the fight our focus was on Chino. This time we had a complete seven weeks with our focus on him."

Maidana said he's been putting in the work and doing what Garcia and Ariza tell him to do.

"We worked a lot in the last six weeks," Maidana said, "to be in the best shape of our lives. That's why I look good. No one's looking better."

Contact Carlos Arias on Twitter @PunchyMcGee.