DeAndre Ware has already won the weekend, regardless of what happens in the ring.

The official pre-fight weigh-in for Saturday’s edition of Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ may have been without incident at the scale, but plenty of drama surfaced beforehand at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. Pete Susens, a Top Rank event coordinator and fighter liaison collapsed as boxers and staff were making their way to the event and was in immediate need of medical assistance.

Fortunately, the most qualified person for the assignment happened to be immediately within reach. 

“I’m here for my fight but I had to put EMS skills to work and do some CPR,” tweeted Ware (13-2-2, 8KOs), a full-time firefighter with Toledo Fire & Rescue Department and aspiring super middleweight contender.

Ware faces unbeaten Steven Nelson (16-0, 13KOs) in a scheduled 10-round super middleweight bout in the evening’s chief support. His job on Friday simply was to make weight—which he did (Ware weighed 168 pounds on the dot)—but stepped up in a moment’s notice to help resuscitate Susens to the point of being responsive prior to being transported to a nearby hospital.

“Happy to say the guy was talking a bit and was alert headed to the hospital,” noted Ware. “I’m thankful! I feel I saved a life.”

Saturday’s bout will mark Ware’s first ring appearance since an 8th round stoppage loss to Vladimir Shishkin last August. He faces his fifth straight unbeaten opponent in Nelson, a rising super middleweight contender from Omaha who is a stablemate and close friend of pound-for-pound entrant Terence Crawford.

Another of Nelson’s stablemates, 130-pound titlist Jamel Herring (21-2, 10KOs) headlines the ESPN+ card (Saturday, 10:00pm ET) as a voluntary defense versus Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Oquendo (31-6, 19KOs).

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox