Mitch Halpern

Mitch Halpern began his career in March 1991 and went on to referee 87 championship fights and hundreds of non-title fights around the world.

Halpern was trained and mentored by veteran boxing referee Richard Steele. "I taught him everything I knew," said Steele. "He took what I had taught him, and with his great natural ability, made himself a great referee." Marc Ratner, who was the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission during the time that Halpern was a referee commented, "There are certain officials in certain sports who are naturals...Mitch has a real feel for it."

Steele said that Halpern approached him one night after Steele had just finished refereeing a fight and told him that he wanted to be a referee. Steele recounted, "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."

As part of the learning process to become a world-class boxing ref, Halpern asked Steele to get in the ring with him and box. They ended up boxing every day. Steele remembered, "He wanted to know how it felt to have a bloody nose and be hurt...He wanted to get the fullness out of being a boxer so he could make the right decisions...It really helped him to be the best referee of all time."