His death was shocking, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Bob Arum was quoted as saying he was "flabbergasted" at hearing that news. Arum went on to say : "I don't think he had an enemy. He was such a stable, rational personality — cool under pressure, unflappable; adding, "A lot of people, myself included, felt he was the best around. Nobody ever questioned his integrity." Halpern died so young, 33 years old he was a respected referee who was engaged to be married when he died. How does someone like that decide to shoot himself out of nowhere? Detectives at the scene did not give details, except to say that there were two other people in the house at the time. Who were the two other people in the house? Who were those two people, was there some kind of an argument and Halpern became so upset he shot himself? I can't believe that story that such a young respected referee with such a bright future would take his own life.
Richard Green also took his own life at age 46. Green refereed several TV bouts, including Mancini-Kim, and was also based out of Las Vegas. It was said that he was distraught over the death of Kim, but he refereed several bouts over the next seven months before taking his life.
Since Mills Lane was already mentioned, I must mention Ron Lipton. Did a great job. In the Williams-Sosa I fight, the two fought head to head; he stayed out of the way and didn't make the fighters break all the time.
I think Tony Weeks is pretty terrible myself. One of the worst of the ones that’s gotten consistently big gigs. Arguably the worst.
