By Lyle Fitzsimmons

It’s beginning to look a lot like September 16

Well, OK, maybe it's fourth behind my anniversary, my son's birthday and Christmas -- but still, it's pretty big: Sept. 16.

The day on which, over the course of seven years back in the 1980s, my life changed forever.

First, it was Sept. 16, 1981. Tommy Hearns. Ray Leonard. The “Showdown” at 147 pounds. Any fight fan in my age group remembers it like it was yesterday. And as I glance at the calendar and realize it's now been 35 years (this Friday) since it happened... I'm amazed.

It was that fight more than any other that got me revved-up. I was a gigantic Tommy fan. I was sure he'd win. I couldn't wait until the next day, when I'd go to Edward Town Junior High School and lord it over all the “Sugar Ray” fans while collecting on a bevy of lunch money bets.

A quarter here. Fifty cents there. Enough funds to keep the Pac Man machine going for hours with a belly full of ice cream sandwiches.

Yes, indeed ... those were the days.

Needless to say, it didn't go how I wanted. Tommy is ahead, then in trouble, then ahead again, then stopped in what's still as dramatic a late rally as you'll ever see, featuring as compelling a message from trainer to fighter as has ever been delivered in any corner.

“You're blowin' it now, son. You're blowin' it.”

Thinking about it still gives me goose bumps.

Thank you, Angelo Dundee.

But it wasn't over for me on Sept. 17. Not by a long shot.

Instead, a few weeks later, as part of the seventh-grade English class that occupied seventh period every day, our teacher -- Thomas J. Rycombel -- gave us an assignment. Take one of the pre-determined titles that he'd scribbled on the board and write something. Short story. Poem. Fictional tale. Whatever.

I chose news story. And armed with his title – “It happened that day” -- I was off.

Six pages later, Mr. Rycombel had as thorough a wrap-up of the Leonard-Hearns fight as was possible from a 12-year-old pre-Internet kid whose fight-bereft hometown -- Niagara Falls, N.Y. -- was every bit of 2,290 miles away from the Caesars Palace parking lot where the action actually took place.

And a day or two later, when I picked up the graded paper, saw the A-plus and the accompanying note -- "You ought to do this as a career, buddy" -- I was hooked.

Seems only fitting that seven years later (Sept. 16, 1988) I walked up the stairs at the Niagara Gazette for my first day as a part-timer with my hometown paper, surrounded by the guys who -- known to me but unknown to them -- had taught me to read with years of box scores, columns and game stories.

Bill McGrath. Bill Wolcott. Tom McDonough. My small-town journalism heroes.

I remember them all as if it were yesterday, too.

And when I clicked "return" on my first story -- the nightly recap of that year's Lake Ontario Fishing Derby -- I got the rush of adrenaline I still get today, each and every time I send one off to the editors and later to the dozens, hundreds or thousands who take the time to read.

To say I've been lucky since would be an understatement.

I've covered multiple fights in Las Vegas, New York, Atlantic City and foreign countries. I've interviewed Leonard and Dundee. I was ringside for Hearns’ last in-ring appearance at Cobo Arena in Detroit in 2005. And I've been recognized for my work by an association I'd dreamed of joining long before I ever did.

It's been a great ride. And I've got Sept. 16, 1981 to thank for all of it.

Because for me anyway, "It happened that day."

Belated happy anniversary, guys.

And thanks again, Mr. Rycombel. I owe you one.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

This week’s title fight schedule:

FRIDAY
WBC bantamweight title – Osaka, Japan
Shinsuke Yamanaka (champion/No. 1 IWBR) vs. Anselmo Moreno (No. 1 WBC/No. 15 IWBR)
Yamanaka (25-0-2, 17 KO): Eleventh title defense; Seven KOs in 11 title fights
Moreno (36-4-1, 12 KO): Seventeenth title fight (13-3); Held IBO and WBA titles at 118 pounds
Fitzbitz says: The challenger is a tricky, talented fighter who’s bested some top names, but the feeling here is that Yamanaka is too strong to be held off for 12 rounds. Yamanaka in 10

WBC super bantamweight title – Osaka, Japan
Hugo Ruiz (champion/No. 15 IWBR) vs. Hozumi Hasegawa (No. 5 WBC/Unranked IWBR)
Ruiz (36-3, 32 KO): First title defense; Second fight in Japan (0-1, 0 KO)
Hasegawa (35-5, 15 KO): Sixteenth title fight (12-3); Held WBC titles at 118 and 126 pounds
Fitzbitz says: Hasegawa was a KO machine a few years back at 118, but has been stopped three times in his past 10 fights. That said, he’s home and has accomplished more than Ruiz. Hasegawa by decision

SATURDAY
WBC cruiserweight title -- Gdansk, Poland
Krzysztof Glowacki (champion/No. 1 IWBR) vs. Oleksandr Usyk (No. 1 WBO/No. 9 IWBR)
Glowacki (26-0, 16 KO): Second title defense; First title fight in Poland
Usyk (9-0, 9 KO): First title fight; Second fight outside of Ukraine (1-0, 1 KO)
Fitzbitz says: There have been a rash of recent fighters who’ve made splashes in their first dozen fights. But because Glowacki has beaten legit foes, he should handle himself OK here. Glowacki by decision

WBO junior middleweight title -- Arlington, Texas
Liam Smith (champion/No. 17 IWBR) vs. Saul Alvarez (No. 1 WBO/No. 1 IWBR)
Smith (23-0-1, 13 KO): Third title defense; First fight outside the United Kingdom
Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KO): Eleventh title fight (9-1); Held WBA/WBC titles at 154, WBC title at 160 pounds
Fitzbitz says: Be careful, Liam. Canelo has told us that Mexican don’t f—k around when it comes to fights like this, so he’ll certainly mean business. Or something like that. Whatever. Alvarez in 9

Last week’s picks: 5-1 (WON: Troyanovsky, Easter, Haskins, Casimero, Gonzalez; LOSS: Brook)
2016 picks record: 65-18 (78.3 percent)
Overall picks record: 797-266 (74.9 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.