Halpern survives Tyson protest

      After listening to impassioned appeals from members of the Mike Tyson camp Thursday night, the Nevada Athletic Commission stuck by its decision to make Mitch Halpern the referee for Saturday's Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight.
      The Nevada Athletic Commission voted 4-1 to keep Halpern after more than an hour of comments at the MGM Grand Hotel.
      Last Friday, the commission had unanimously chosen Halpern, who refereed the first Tyson-Holyfield fight Nov. 9, for the rematch.
      That drew the appeal from promoter Don King and Tyson's managers, John Horne and Rory Holloway.
      Horne, sometimes speaking in a high voice, maintained that the protest was not about Halpern, but about selecting the same referee in back-to-back Tyson fights.
      "Never in our wildest dreams did we ever consider you would choose the same referee back-to-back. This has nothing to do with Mitch Halpern," Horne said.
      The argument convinced commissioner Luther Mack, who voted to replace Halpern.
      But commission chairman Dr. Elias Ghanem, vice chairman James Nave, and commisioners Lorenzo Fertitta and Nat Carasali all voted against the protest.
      Mack said after Thursday's meeting that he changed his mind because "there were some valid points" made by the Tyson camp.
      "Since Halpern did the last fight, having another referee would not be an unreasonable request," Mack said.
      King, Horne and Holloway rushed off after the meeting without talking to the media.
      Halpern attended the meeting but did not address the commission.
      He said later that he was pleased by the decision to reaffirm him as the referee.
      "I'm very happy," Halpern said. "I appreciate the confidence they (commissioners) have in me.
      He also said he would not let the protest affect his performance as referee.
      "Absolutely not," he said. "I didn't care what was said or written. I have a job to do and I'm concentrating on doing it."
      In the first Holyfield-Tyson fight, Halpern stopped the contest in the 11th round and awarded Holyfield a victory by technical knockout.
      In Horne's letter of protest to the commission, which he gave to Ghanem at a news conference Wednesday, he objected specifically to Halpern.
      "Mike Tyson absolutely cannot fight if Mitch Halpern is the third man in the ring," Horne wrote. "Although Mr. Halpern may be a promising referee, we do not feel comfortable with him as the referee. ... In the first fight, I feel that the fight became too physical for him to control ..."
      At one point in Thursday's meeting, Horne challenged the commission to uphold their initial vote.
      "If you guys want to tell the world, `The hell with Mike Tyson,' say it," he said. "He (Tyson) will be totally unhappy with the same referee."
      Horne added, "We (Team Tyson) would like to be respected as somebody in this state."
      King said the Holyfield camp did not want Richard Steele or Joe Cortez of Las Vegas as the referee, implying the commission went along with their wishes.
      "Why couldn't we get Mills Lane?" King asked.
      Holyfield's attorney Jim Thomas had "voiced his concerns toward Cortez and Steele, which I passed along," commission executive director Marc Ratner said.
      Ratner said such calls are common.
      "Absolutely. On almost every fight I get some complaint about a judge or referee. It's all part of the input," he said.
      But, Ratner added, the commission does not necessarily honor the complaints.
      "Just because somebody from one side or corner objects to a particular official, whether it be a referee or judge, doesn't mean the commission might not go ahead and pick that official," agreed Nave, the vice chairman.