By Brian Gorman

Former middleweight champ and hometown hero Kelly Pavlik christened his promotional company, Ghost Promotions, at Youngstown's Covelli Centre Friday night with the local favorites earning their paydays via hard-nosed victories over uncooperative opposition.

In the main event, Youngstown transplant "Dangerous" Dannie Williams (18-0, 14 KOs), 137 pounds, chief seconded by Pavlik's trainer Jack Loew, overcame a tempestous effort by Colombia's Oscar Cuero (13-7, 10 KOs), 137, who now lives in the Bronx, for a difficult unanimous decision win.

A nip-and-tuck contest through its first half swung heavily in Cuero's favor in the sixth and seventh rounds, when Williams seemed gassed but endured Cuero's home run swings.  Williams appeared to need - and he got - each of the last three rounds, as he impressively found a second wind and outboxed Cuero with effective counters down the stretch.

Two reasonable but debatable 97-93 scorecards came down for Williams, along with a completely indefensible 99-91 card in his favor.

The two co-features also saw the Youngstown product with his hand raised.  In the first, Billy Lyell (24-9, 5 KOs), 155.5, dominated and shut out Chicago's game Michael Walker, 159, over six rounds, earning three 60-54 scorecards.  Lyell landed his right hand at will and effectively mixed up combinations in order to edge Walker in most if not all of their exchanges, punctuated by a left hook, right hand 1-2 in the last round.

Jake "the Bull" Giuriceo (12-0-1, 3 KOs), 139, came out on top in the second co-feature but was pushed to the limit by Georgia's Winston Mathis (7-4, 2 KOs).  Giuriceo's relentless, blue collar approach notched him another win, even though the 59-55 (twice) and 60-54 scores belied the close action in the ring.

Mathis proved the faster of the two, surprisingly effective and assertive in spite of three losses in his first 10 bouts.  However, Giuriceo never stopped punching, and his nonstop combinations and commitment to a body attack earned him each of several close rounds. 

On the undercard:

Warren, Ohio's Marco Hall, 131, debuted successfully with a TKO of Buffalo's Emil Brooks (0-3), 128, at 0:39 of the second round.  Hall withstood a flailing attack for the contest's first minute and then dropped Hall to a knee twice in the opening round, then landed a beautifuly double right to the head that sent Brooks reeling into the ropes and prompted Referee Earnie Sharif to correctly wave it off.

Juan Salinas, 201, of Youngstown learned in his debut that he should pick on guys his own size in the future.  West Virginia's toughman-style heavyweight Adam Dearien (1-0, 1 KO), 213, took the best that former amateur standout Salinas had to offer in the first round and dropped him hard three times with wild rights in the second before Loew stopped the fight.

Hometowner Anthony Pietrantonio (7-7, 6 KOs), 173.5, and Sharon, Pa.'s Randy Campbell, 174, waged the night's most spirited seesaw battle in a four round battle, but an even fight went Pietrantonio's way when he followed a huge uppercut that dropped Campbell with a barrage on the ropes that brought on the stoppage at 2:15 of the final round.

Former local Vinny O'Neil (2-1-1, 2 KOs), 136, who now lives and trains in Las Vegas, made quick work of Kenneth Addison (0-1), 135, getting a TKO win at 1:22 of the opening stanza.