Islington BC’s Borys Feldman maintained his useful habit of edging close contests to seal a place in the London Development Championship semi-finals.

Feldman, who is nicknamed ‘The Split’ at the Hazellville Road gym, lived up to that reputation by taking successive majority decisions in the first two rounds of the Class A Under-69kg category.

He overcame tricky southpaw Brahima Kposowa (Miguels) in the preliminary stage at All Stars ABC, stepping up the pace after a quiet opening round.

And Feldman repeated that achievement in the quarter-finals at York Hall the following day, despite making another slow start against Repton BC’s Richie Mansende.

The Islington boxer began to work more effectively on the inside, scoring with clean left and right-hand punches and doing just enough to secure his seventh split decision in eight contests.

Feldman will now face home boxer Xavier Akinsete at All Stars in the last four on Saturday, while two other Islington representatives are also in action.

Lamin Conteh takes on an opponent he has defeated in their two previous meetings, Deniss Dagiliss (West Ham BC), in the Class B Under-69kg semi-finals.

Jerome Campbell is also up against familiar opposition as he faces Lewis Frimpong (IQ Boxing) – who he beat to triumph at the Haringey Box Cup earlier this year – in the Class B Under-60kg.

Scott Smart (Class B Under-52kg) and Mateusz Szczepkowski (Class B Under-91kg) have received byes to the national stage of the tournament, while there were mixed fortunes for the other Islington entrants.

Conrad Francis put in a disappointing display in the preliminary round against Double Jab’s Jordan McIntosh, neglecting the jab as he lost a split decision in the Class A Under-69kg.

Tashan Dwyer also paid the price for not using his orthodox jab in the Class B Under-75kg clash against Alex Campbell (Repton), losing a see-saw contest on a split decision.

Islington’s Simon Collins did progress to the London quarter-finals, landing several clean shots and controlling his Class A Under-75kg fight against Daniel Green.

However, that was as far as it went for Collins, who took a standing eight count in the second round against Ryan Kettle (Miguels) and, despite a spirited fightback, he lost a unanimous decision.

Aaron Nicely also bowed out in the Class A Under-75kg quarter-finals, looking tense and never really finding his rhythm as he lost to Abdoul Toure (Repton) on a split decision.

Mason ‘Smasher’ Smith successfully defended his Southern Area England Boxing light-welterweight title on his debut for Islington with victory over Bobby Woods (IQ Boxing).

The pair, who were former team-mates at Finchley ABC, had also met in the divisional rounds of the England Elite Championship – when Smith was victorious – prior to Sunday’s title contest at York Hall.

The Islington fighter boxed well behind his jab, controlling the pace of the fight and catching his opponent with strong combination punches to clinch the win.

Smith will be defending the title again at York Hall on Thursday October 6, when he faces another former Elite Championship opponent, Martin McDonagh (Rumbles BA).