Joe Bonamassa

Friday, February 25, 2011

The Only Way Is Essex star Mark Wright KOs Kirk Norcross in bloody boxing match finale... as ex Lauren is in his corner

By Emily Sheridan

Pow! The Only Way Is Essex star Mark Wright delivers a left hook to Kirk Norcross during their boxing match at the City Pavilion in Romford last night

Mark Wright and Kirk Norcross brought the first series of The Only Way Is Essex to a dramatic finale last night as they fought each other in a boxing match.

Club promoter Mark, 23, ended up the winner after leaving Sugar Hut nightclub owner Kirk, 22, with a bloody nose during the bout at the City Pavilion in Romford.

Interestingly, there appeared to be no sign of Mark's latest love Lucy - but his ex-girlfriend Lauren Goodger was spotted ringside looking glamorous in a white dress.

Triumphant: James 'Arg' Argent (far left) announces his best friend Mark as the winner

There has been speculation in recent days the couple may get back together after music manager/stylish Julian Bennett warned Lucy in last night's episode that he had heard rumours about Lauren and Mark being back together.

Of course, all the action was captured on camera for the final episode of the ITV2 reality show, which will be broadcast on Wednesday.

Both fighters gave themselves nicknames for the occasion, billing the match as Mark 'Left Hook' Wright V Kirk '2 Cross' Norcross.

After weeks of goading each other, Mark proved rather more gracious after winning and paid tribute to his opponent for being a 'great person'.

Back with Mark? The winner's ex-girlfriend Lauren Goodger was sat in the front row, fuelling speculation they may be getting back together

Love rivals: Beautician Amy Childs (left) switched to 'Team Mark' after ending her brief romance with Kirk, who is now dating glamour model-turned-DJ Lauren Pope (right)

Writing on his Twitter micro-blogging page last night, Mark said: 'Glad tonight's over. Kirk's a good friend and don't wanna fight him again. He's a great person and we'll be friends for a long while. Well done Kirk.'

Ahead of the fight, Wright sounded pretty confident, writing: 'I'm born ready. A born winner. Bang bang, c' ya soon.'

Before the big fight, the crowd were warmed up with a performance by girl group Lola - comprising of of Mark's older sister Jessica, Amba, Lauren and Linzi - and another fight between Jack Tweed and Big Brother 9 housemate Mohamed Mohamed.

Jack - best known for being the widower of Jade Goody - won the bout against Mohamed, after training alongside Mark over the past couple of weeks.

Team Mark: (L-R) Sam [partially seen], Amy who recently split from Kirk showed support for rival Mark, Jay Conroy, Jack and Harry Derbidge also watched the action

Another bout: Jade Goody's widower Jack Tweed won his match against Big Brother 9 star Mohamed Mohamed

All The Only Way Is Essex cast turned out for the big fight, including glamour model Sam Faiers, beautician Amy Childs, Nanny Pat, Harry Derbidge, Candy Jacobs, Michael Woods Adam Ryan and Maria Fowler.

Aside from losing the fight, Kirk also had to contend with his ex-girlfriend Amy Childs turning up with a male model and former Wimbledon footballer Jay Conroy.

After enjoying a first date at the King William IV pub in Chigwell in last night's episode - which was filmed several days ago, Amy invited him to join her at Kirk's fight to make her jealous, or 'jell' as she likes to abbreviate the word to.

The 20-year-old redhead wrote on Twitter last night: 'Is with my gorgeous date you will love him.'

Close to the action: Lauren chatted to her boss Adam Ryan and glamour model Maria Fowler (far right)

Good fight: Kirk and Mark show there's no hard feelings after their fight is over

However, when Amy gets time to watch last night's episode, she may be perturbed to see him and his friend Jack mocking her for thinking Essex was in South London.

However, Kirk has also moved on and invited glamour model-turned-DJ Lauren Pope, 28, to support him.

Amy ended her brief romance with Kirk 10 days ago when she spotted him chatting to Lauren - who was famously romantically linked to Prince Harry in the tabloids.

Sugar Hut employee Candy, who watched the match with her best friend Michael, also teased fans with the news there may be a Christmas special of The Only Way Is Essex next month.

• The final episode of first series of The Only Is Essex will be screened on ITV2 on Wednesday 10 November at 10pm

Warming up the crowd: Girl group Lola (L-R) Lauren Lindsay, Amba-Hollie Wood, Mark's sister Jessica (2nd right) and Linzi Peel performed their debut single Claustrophobic