By Lyle Fitzsimmons

I’ve made a decision.

In my first act as president – or at least imperial grand pooh-bah of all things boxing – I’m making today, Sept. 16, a national holiday.

But not for the reasons you might automatically assume.

First off, it’s not simply another excuse to skip work and enjoy the beautiful final gaps of summer here in Southwest Florida. Neither is it an extra 24-hour recovery period from what could turn out to be a historic – if Floyd Mayweather Jr. does indeed stay retired – weekend trip to the Nevada decadence.

Rather, it’s to take a moment to look back at how substantial – both by fate and absolute coincidence – this date has been in getting me to where I am today… firmly cemented in my position as one of your 100 favorite midweek morning boxing columnists.

Ah, yes… it’s a heady life I lead here in Cape Coral.

But I digress.

Most notable on the list of Sept. 16 events is one that happened exactly 34 years ago today at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas – the undisputed welterweight championship match between Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns, promotionally billed back then as “The Showdown.”

Leonard was the TV-driven phenomenon who’d starred at the Olympics five years earlier and regained his pro crown from Roberto Duran in late 1980. Hearns, meanwhile, had laid waste to foes in more anonymous fashion before bursting onto the big stage with a demolition of Pipino Cuevas.

I was a seventh-grader at Edward Town Middle School in Sanborn, N.Y., and so sure my man Hearns would win that I leveraged my personal fortune – a cool $50 from a job delivering the Metro Community News – in penny ante wagers with the other 12-year-old delinquents roaming the halls.

Suffice to say, when I woke up to hear the results over breakfast the next morning, I was crestfallen.

Nevertheless, when opportunity presented itself the next month – in the form of an English composition for Mr. Rycombel entitled “It Happened That Day” – I took my first crack at catharsis with an in-depth analysis of the fight and all that, in my view, had gone wrong for Hearns in the desert.

I got the paper back about a week later and happily turned to the back page to find the capital letter “A” and alongside it the phrase – “You oughta think of this as a career, pal” – that for the first time gave me a clear vision of exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up.

A sports writer.

As fate would have it, I took my first legitimate steps toward that goal exactly seven years later – on Sept. 16, 1988 – when I walked into the newsroom at my hometown Niagara Gazette for day one of a sophomore year internship from Niagara County Community College.

And though my night consisted mainly of taking reports from the Lake Ontario Fishing Derby and grabbing dinner for the guys from the nearby Press Box restaurant, I went home knowing that there was nothing else I’d ever be truly as happy doing… getting paid to watch sports.

But as it turns out… that’s not the only itch to stem from the fight.

Hand in hand with my journalism obsession has been an equally powerful, albeit slightly less accessible urge to be on the other side of the microphones and keyboard, actually doing the things that the assembled scribes are writing about… especially in a boxing ring.

I was never athletic enough to warrant notice at dear old Niagara-Wheatfield Senior High School and surely never close to subsequently competing at Brockport State, but as luck would have it, genetics and the Atkins Diet have allowed something of a recovery in my 30s and 40s.

I got within a jab-hook combo of an exhibition at the Blue Horizon in 2005 – yes, fight night was scheduled for Sept. 16 – before the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission KO’d the “White Collar Boxing” show as too similar to then-banned ultimate fighting and derailed the dream.

Finishing the New York City Marathon two months later sufficiently sated the athletic desire for a couple years, but here in 2015 – at age 46 and with mid-life in the throes of its crisis-causing fury – the urge to indulge my inner “Hitman” remains as strong as ever.

All I need now is a Sept. 16 alter ego.

So if you know of anyone else within range of AARP eligibility who’s got no formal boxing pedigree outside of wannabe status, send him my way so we can seek out a promoter who wouldn’t mind having his own career derailed by the specter of two guys with no real business participating.

Just make sure the wannabe knows what role he’s supposed to play.

Happy Holidays.

* * * * * * * * * *

This week’s title-fight schedule:

SATURDAY
IBO/WBA strawweight/mini-flyweight titles -- Kempton Park, South Africa
Hekkie Budler (champion/No. 1 IWBR) vs. Simphiwe Khonco (No. 6 WBA/No. 20 IWBR)
Budler (28-1, 9 KO): Ninth IBO title defense (fourth WBA); Held IBO title at 108 (2010-11, zero defenses)
Khonco (15-4, 7 KO): First title fight; Unbeaten since 2010 (9-0 since beginning career at 6-4)
Fitzbitz says: Budler is a classic example of a guy who’s gotten better since he won a title belt. And looking at Khonco’s resume, there’s no reason to believe defense No. 9 isn’t coming. Budler by decision

Last week's picks: 3-1 (WIN: Stevenson, Charlo, Mayweather; LOSS: Groves)
2015 picks record: 56-17 (76.7 percent)
Overall picks record: 695-240 (74.3 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.