ALA Promotions has formally filed a complaint with the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) on its promotional dispute with promising unbeaten featherweight Mark Magsayo.

ALA Promotions, through its legal counsel Atty. Sonny Mercado, filed a complaint against Magsayo for breach of contract at the GAB Office in Makati City last June 20.

In the eight-page complaint, ALA Promotions asked for arbitration to settle the contract issue with Magsayo.

ALA Promotions wants Magasayo to admit that he has a live promotional contract with the Cebu-based boxing promotional outfit and also get the sanctions that the GAB will decide on for breaching the contract.

“The Aldeguer family is very considerate. Our approach is not so harsh. We don’t want to get anything else from him,” Mercado told SunStar Cebu. “This kid grew up with them and it’s sad that this had to happen.”

News broke earlier this month that the 23-year-old Magsayo’s promotional contract with ALA Promotions has expired and that he has signed with a new promoter, Las Vegas-based Now Boxing Promotions.

ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer, however, said that it was only Magsayo’s managerial contract that expired and not his promotional contract.

“We have been quite decent about it after it was announced in the newspapers. We kept quiet about it,” said Mercado.

Included in the complaint was a four-page promotional contract, along with pictures of Magsayo signing the contract. The contract had Magsayo’s handwritten name along with his signature and was dated Jan. 10, 2017.

The contract is valid for five years and states “the agreement commences upon signing hereof, but the five-term exclusivity commences on the date of the first bout.”

Magsayo’s first bout after signing the contract was on April 29, 2017, when he fought Issa Nampepeche in the Waterfront Hotel and Casino.

“We just want GAB to exercise their power in this situation and remind everyone practicing the sport to be professional about it,” said Mercado.

GAB chairman Baham Mitra said that the board will act on the arbitration and that they have already reached out to both camps.

“GAB will act on it based on the merits. We have relayed to the sender that we have received it and relayed to the Magsayo camp that there is a complaint. I reached out but Magsayo camp’s preferred that we talk to their lawyers instead,” he said.

SunStar Cebu tried to contact Magsayo through his Facebook account but messages to him were left unanswered. (EKA)