Mitchell Howard Halpern (July 14, 1967 – August 20, 2000) was an American boxing referee who officiated some of the sport's biggest matches.

"[1] 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.

"[3] Halpern was scheduled to referee Holyfield–Tyson II, what would come to be known as the infamous "Bite Fight", but Tyson's co-manager, John Horne vehemently opposed.

Officially, Tyson's camp did not cite any specific reason to The Nevada State Athletic Commission, only arguing that they wanted a fresh slate.

"[4] The NSAC stood firm with a 4–1 vote and were not willing to remove Halpern (whom one sports writer referred to as "the unwilling centerpiece of a manufactured controversy").

In an interview with sports reporter Ron Futrell, Halpern explained his reasoning: "As an official, you don't ever want to be the center of attention, and that's what was happening.

Halpern refereed the match between Gabriel Ruelas and Jimmy Garcia for the WBC super featherweight title on May 6, 1995.

[8] 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.

"[1] 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.

[10] Achieving this requires that a referee maintain respect from the fighters and their corners, and is not swayed into not doing the right thing by politics or audience sentiment.

[12][13] Dr. Elias Ghanem, who was chairman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission when Halpern died, characterized him as "a real brave referee.

"[1] Halpern died on August 20, 2000, in his south Las Vegas home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.