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Born in Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur,
Philippines, it has not been
possible to track down a date of
birth on former WBF World
Featherweight Champion
Ric “Bomba” Siodora.
But he was likely very young
when he made his first paid
start in February of 1987 as a
Super Flyweight.
In his first year as a
professional Sidora compiled a
6-0 (2) record against fellow
up-starts, working his way up
the ladder of the many emerging
Filipino prospects. Starting out
fighting over six rounds, he
graduated to eight-round level
in his fifth bout, and ten-round
level already in his sixth
outing.
With plenty of young and hungry
boxers around there was no time
to take things slow on the
Filipino scene, so from that
point on Siodora would never
again compete in anything but
ten or twelve round fights. Not
much of a puncher, he was forced
to be very active in the ring,
making his fights quite
entertaining and action-packed.
In April of 1988 he suffered his
first set-back, when he was
matched with General Santos
City´s Allan Moore at the
Gymnasium of the University of
Mindanao in Tagum City. Stopping
Siodora in eight, Moore was a
real tough costumer, and likely
more experienced than his
reported 9-5-1 record suggests.
Sidora rebounded well three
months later with a unanimous
decision over journeyman Jun
Generale (6-9-2), but only six
weeks on he disappointed when he
came out on the wrong end of a
majority decision against Loloc
Elloren (3-4-5), a man he was
expected to beat comfortably.
But, still very much learning on
the job, Siodora kept his head
down and kept on grinding. Eager
to get back on track, he
finished 1988 with a nice
decision victory over Rey Cascas
(10-5-3). He proved in that
fight that he had much more to
offer than what he showed
against Elloren.
The victory over Cascas was
followed up by another four, all
on points, and in June of 1989
he was rewarded with a shot at
the vacant Philippines Flyweight
title. But he had to go to his
opponents home-town, Cagayan de
Oro City, as the man in the
opposite corner was long-time
contender Rod Naiconi (23-8-2).
It was very much a case of “sink
or swim” for Siodora, who
brought an unspectacular 12-2
ledger to a fight against a man
who had operated at world level
not long before. But the
underdog rose to the occasion,
floored Naicono in rounds one
and eleven, and won a wide
unanimous decision.
Three months later he was
brought back down to earth
again, when trial-horse Triffon
Torralba (19-14-5) held him to a
draw in a fight where few could
have complained if Torralba had
been declared the winner. 1990
was closed out with another
unspectacular victory over
Jongjong Perez (9-8-1), but big
things were coming for Siodora.
He was picked to challenge for
the WBC World Flyweight
championship against Thailand´s
Sot Chitalada (19-2-1), who in
his second reign as title-holder
was scheduled to make his first
defense. Not one to let an
opportunity pass him by, Siodora
happily accepted with open arms.
On January 30, 1990 at the
Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in
Bangkok, Siodora gave it his
everything, and at times held
his own, against the seasoned
world champion. But, fighting in
his eleventh world title fight,
almost as many as Siodora´s
total bouts (17), Chitalada was
the better man on the night and
won a hard-fought decision.
Now a proven world-level
fighter, Siodora returned in May
and retained his national title
with an impressive performance
against Mario Parcon (27-10-2),
a tough challenger who had won
his last seven fights. Siodora
broke his challenger down, and
scored a rare stoppage in round
eight.
A month later, without his title
on the line, Siodora took on
highly touted prospect Gerry
Penalosa (10-0), who at the time
was already the IBF
Intercontinental titlist at
Light Flyweight and groomed for
big things. They battled to a
ten round draw, and Penalosa
went on to win WBC Super
Flyweight and WBO Bantamweight
World titles.
In his hunt for another shot at
a world title, Siodora agreed to
travel to South Korea in
December of 1989 for a fight
with Jung-Koo Chang (37-2), who
had just lost the WBC World
Light Flyweight crown to
legendary Mexican Humberto
“Chiquita” Gonzalez after
fifteen successful defenses.
Unfortunately for Siodora, it
turned out to be a
heart-breaking night for him, as
Chang boxed wonderfully in front
of his adoring fans. Siodora was
game, as always, but after seven
grueling rounds he was finally
stopped in round eight of the
scheduled ten.
But, while the desired results
often escaped him, Siodora had
plenty left in the tank and
continued to show that, when he
was at his best, he was a world
class fighter.
A month after the Chang-defeat
he wasn’t allowed to prove much
when he took on another
Penalosa, Gerry´s older brother
Dodie Boy (28-3-1), a former IBF
World Flyweight champion. An
injury called a halt to the
fight in the second round,
making it a technical draw.
Amazingly, his next fight would
also be against a Penalosa, this
time Gerry´s younger brother
Jonathan (13-0) in Cebu City,
and again the fight ended in a
draw.
In May of 1991 Siodora rematched
Triffon Torralba (now 26-19-7),
and improved on their 1989 draw
when he retained his national
title by unanimous decision.
Next up was another rematch, the
unfinished business against the
oldest Penalosa, Dodie Boy,
which took place on July 31.
Almost impossibly, this fight
was also ruled a technical draw
after six rounds, making Siodora
undefeated but also win-less in
four fights against the Penalosa
family.
From January of 1990, when he
fought for the WBC world title
in Thailand, until the end of
his career, Siodora mostly mixed
at very high level. That meant
he didn’t always win, and in his
last twenty-six fights his
record was a somewhat deceiving
10-10-6.
He lost his Philippines title to
Isagani Pumar (16-2-1) in
February of 1992, and failed to
regain it when he got another
draw in the rematch. Wins over
good fighters such as Matt
Qijano (19-16-2) and Ramie Macao
(17-5-1), was mixed in with
losses to even better foes
Yong-Hoon Lee (27-1) and Lehlo
Ledwaba (17-1-1) on the road.
In 1996 Siodra managed to put
together three straight
victories to set up a
long-awaited second world
title-challenge, as reigning WBF
World Featherweight Champion
Cedric “Main Man” Mingo (22-6-1)
from the USA agreed to come to
Manilla that November.
On the verge of slipping into a
role of gate-keeper, it was a
great opportunity for Siodora.
And again he knew better than to
let it pass him by, as he seized
the moment and stopped the
American in eleven rounds to
finally become a world champion.
But, except for two low profile
non title victories to stay busy
in 1997, the Mingo triumph would
be the last time he got his
hands raised after a fight. On
January 24, 1998, visiting
challenger Komgthawat Sor Kitti
(33-6) from Thailand, stopped
him in the first round to take
his world title.
A long, up-and-down career was
over, and Sidora retired from
boxing with a 24-12-7 (6)
record. He was never protected
in the matchmaking, but he
never-the-less achieved a lot by
winning the Philippines national
Flyweight title and the WBF
World Featherweight title.
And no Penalosa managed to beat
him...
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