Special Tribute: Boxing Referee Mitch Halpern

A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO BOXING REFEREE MITCH HALPERN
Halpern was a referree with men and women’s boxing.   WBAN covered a fight in Las Vegas, Nevada for the Karen Bill vs. Maria Johannson  fight where he reffed their four-round bout.  A few weeks later Halpern committed suicide.  WBAN reported the following:

On Sunday, August 20, 2000, Boxing referee Mitch Halpern ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.   He was 33 years old.  Halpern was found in his home, with two other persons in the residence at the time.  Shortly after 6 p.m. the Las Vegas Metro Police were called, and as law enforcement authorities described it, Halpern had died of an “obvious self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

This “Special Tribute” is not to talk about his death… but to talk about who he was as not only one of the most respected boxing refs in the business but a very respected person to friends and the boxing community.

Halpern got his start in March of 1991.  He referree’d about 90 championship fights and hundreds of non-title fights around the world.  Halpern has been a referee for noted fights as: the second fight between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, November 1999; Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad, September 1999;  Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson where Tyson was stopped in the 11th round, November 1996; Halpern had also been the referee for Jimmy Garcia, who had collapsed and died following what appeared to ba a routine 11th – round TKO by Gabe Ruelas.  Halpern by news accounts took it to heart and blamed himself.

Background of Halpern:

Mitch Halpern lived in Las Vegas, Nevada at the time.  Police reported that it was an obvious suicide.  The police reported that they went to Halpern’s home, just shortly after 6pm and found him inside.

As the Las Vegas Review reported, Halpern was assigned many of the highest-profile fights in Nevada, including the first Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield heavyweight championship fight in 1996 at the MGM Grand Garden, the Lennox Lewis-Holyfield championship fight in 1999 at the Thomas & Mack Center and the Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad welterweight championship fight in 1999 at Mandalay Bay.

Richard Steele, another top ref said at the time, “He was my son.  I taught him everything I knew. He took what I had taught him, and with his great natural ability, made himself a great referee.”

Steele said, “”I got out of the ring one night, and a young man walked up and introduced himself and said he wanted to be a referee,” Steele said. “I have had numerous people come to me and say that. I always tell them, ‘I will meet you at the gym Monday.’ He was there Monday. Most other guys never show up. He worked hard. He worked harder than anyone I had ever seen. He wanted to be the best.”