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Drug-tested Marcos Maidana ‘ahead of schedule’ for Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Fighters Network
03
Apr
Adrien Broner v Marcos Maidana

Marcos Maidana fighting soon-to-be-ex-WBA titleholder Adrien Broner on Dec. 14, 2013. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images.

Strength and conditioning guru Alex Ariza characterized Marcos Maidana's first round of random drug testing with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) as being "discrete, organized, and professional" on Wednesday.

Ariza also said the hard-punching Argentine is "ahead of schedule" in preparation for his May 3 clash with RING and WBC 147-pound champion Floyd Maywather Jr.

Mayweather has insisted that he and his his past five opponents — Shane Mosley, Victor Ortiz, Miguel Cotto, Robert Guerrero and Canelo Alvarez — be tested by USADA before their bouts.

Ariza said the officials showed up for Maidana at trainer Robert Garcia's facility in Oxnard, Calif., for a process that took approximately 30 minutes.



"They just showed up when we got to the gym, and they obviously notified us as to who they were, and they said, 'whenever you're ready, we'll take your samples," said Ariza, adding that Maidana provided both bood and urine samples.

"They took him into a back room, and it was very discrete and professional the way that they did it…They were very quick and very experienced about it. The entire process took about half an hour. They were very organized."

The 30-year-old Maidana (35-3, 31 knockouts) scored knockdowns in the second and eighth rounds of a unanimous decision that dethroned Adrien Broner for the WBA's welterweight belt in December, and will face Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs) in a unification bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Showtime Pay Per View.

"Maidana's been here for going on our third week now. I think that he's ahead of schedule from where he was before the Broner fight. We've had three solid weeks," said Ariza.

"He looks great. He came in in relatively good shape from Argentina, and we got to hit the ground running right away. Robert's really pleased, and I'm really pleased, and the weight is great."

 

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