Other Bouts
Halpern refereed the match between Gabriel Ruelas and Jimmy Garcia for the WBC super featherweight title on May 6, 1995. Ruelas won the fight by TKO, but the match is mostly remembered because Garcia died in a hospital two weeks later from brain damage sustained in the fight.
In a New York Times article, Ruelas explained that even when he was pounding Garcia with punches, Garcia maintained a composure to not act hurt, and the fight continued on for eleven rounds, with Garcia's father prodding him on in his corner. The doctor and Halpern inspected Garcia in the corner after the 10th round and found him coherent enough to continue, but the fight was stopped by Halpern in the next round. Although Garcia walked back to his corner, minutes later he collapsed and had to be taken from the ring on a stretcher.
It is not clear what effect Garcia's death had upon Halpern. Physician-at-ringside, Edwin "Flip" Homansky, who often worked title matches that Halpern refereed, said "Mitch transcended the sport in that he truly cared about the fighters." Halpern's experience was similar to boxing referee Richard Green — who officiated the WBA Lightweight title match between Ray Mancini and Duk Koo Kim in 1982. Kim was knocked down in the 14th round but got up to beat the ten count. When Green spotted a worrisome dazed look in Kim's eyes, he stopped the match. Kim had sustained serious brain trauma and was carried out of the ring on a stretcher. He died four days later (Green died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head about a year after the Mancini—Kim fight).
Halpern was the referee for several notable bouts in 1999: the Lennox Lewis—Evander Holyfield rematch at the Thomas & Mack Center in which Lennox was the winner by unanimous decision; the Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad welterweight championship fight at Mandalay Bay in which Trinidad won by majority decision (billed as the Fight of the Millennium, the fight set a pay-per-view record for a non-heavyweight fight); also in 1999, Halpern officiated the De La Hoya—Ike Quartey fight in which De La Hoya won by split decision.
Halpern was also referee for the first of three meetings between Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.
Read more about this topic: Mitch Halpern
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