Ousted referee watches fight at home

      All week long, the biggest story surrounding the Tyson-Holyfield rematch was the Team Tyson protest of referee Mitch Halpern.
      Ironically, it was referee Mills Lane, a Friday replacement after Halpern withdrew Thursday night, who made Saturday night's biggest decision when he disqualified Mike Tyson for biting Evander Holyfield on the ears twice in the third round.
      Halpern watched the pandemonium from his Las Vegas home.
      "It was unfortunate," said Halpern, who was in the ring for Holyfield's Nov. 9 technical knockout of Tyson. "That's not boxing. There is no place in the sport of boxing for that."
      Halpern still was disappointed he wasn't in the ring Saturday.
      "I absolutely wish I would have been there," Halpern said. "I thought I was the one who lost. For whatever reason, I was the one singled out."
      Halpern thought Lane did the right thing by disqualifying Tyson and thought the head butt that caused the cut near Tyson's eye was unintentional.
      "I thought it was a competitive fight," he said. "Head-butting is part of boxing, and when both heads are moving forward, that's an accidental head butt."
      As upset as Halpern was with the way the week and the fight turned out, he said he felt worse for the fans.
      "I'm not the story. No referee is ever the story," Halpern said. "The real losers are the fans. Think about all the people all over the world who paid to see the fight.
      "They geared up to see a fight like the first one, and they didn't get it."
      -- NO SHOW, NO PAY -- Halpern not only lost the chance to officiate what should have been one of the decade's best fights, he also forfeited a big payday.
      Ratner said Halpern will not be paid any of the $10,000 he was scheduled to receive.
      "He isn't getting paid, I'm sad to say," Ratner said. "He withdrew from the fight, so he won't be paid."
      Ratner said he was upset to see Halpern withdraw.
      "He refereed fabulously in the first (Tyson-Holyfield) fight," Ratner said.
      Ratner said Halpern's decision to withdraw from the championship fight will not affect future assignments.
      "This whole (referee) thing is not a precedent," Ratner said. "It was an aberration."
      -- JUDGES UNQUESTIONED -- Ratner said amid all the controversy with Halpern he didn't hear a word about the judges until Saturday.
      "I was asked about the judges on ESPN radio at 3 p.m. (Saturday)," Ratner said. "That was the first time all week I heard anything about the judges.
      "Usually the only aggravation (during fight week) is, who's the judges? And where are they from?"
      -- FIGHT DOCTOR SPEAKS -- Showtime Event Television analyst Ferdie Pacheco, the famed fight doctor, made a bold statement in suggesting why Tyson had to win.
      "Holyfield has a life. Tyson doesn't," Pacheco said. "(Therefore Tyson) must win."
      -- SINGING IN THE SHOWER -- Holyfield, who was in good spirits all week, spent the minutes before the fight singing and dancing in the locker-room shower.
      -- STRANGE PROP -- Bettors could wager at the Stardust on whether Los Angeles Dodgers ace Hideo Nomo would have more strikeouts against the San Diego Padres on Saturday than the number of rounds the Tyson-Holyfield fight would go.
      The Nomo bet, which was a $1.20 favorite, won when he struck out six.
      -- ENTHUSIASTIC CROWD -- The jam-packed crowd of 16,331 at the MGM Grand Garden was chanting Holyfield's name in the first round but swung toward Tyson's corner early in the third.
      When Tyson came out with some good combinations to open the third, the crowd began chanting his name. The crowd, however, turned sour when Tyson bloodied Holyfield's ear with two intentional bites later in the round.
      Tyson was pelted with debris in the ring and on his way out of the Grand Garden following his disqualification.