Andrzej Fonfara and Nathan Cleverly are going in the history books.
Friday’s bout that headlined a PBC on Spike card set CompuBox records for most combined punches thrown and landed in a light-heavyweight fight.
Fonfara defeated a game Cleverly over 12 galvanizing rounds to win a unanimous decision in his adopted hometown of Chicago.
Fonfara has only fought outside Illinois three times in his career, but two of those bouts have come within his last three fights.
The wait was well worth it for the fans who witnessed a sensational fight.
The battle began as the Polish fans were convulsing the crowd with their energetic tenor. Cleverly, looking to rebound from two defeats, established himself with the jab, and Fonfara joined the blitz with meticulous punching abilities. Heads were flying to start the opening round.
Cleverly, who was stopped inside four rounds by Sergey Kovalev back in August 2013, fought like it never happened.
Despite bleeding from a badly mangled nose over the course of the second-half of the fight, Cleverly (29-3, 15 KO’s) of England, never capitulated to the pressure, and earned the respect of Fonfara.
“Cleverly has a great chin. He’s a great fighter. He was taking a lot of punches and not breaking down. He still wanted to go forward and fight. He believed he could win until the very end,” Fonfara said.
“I thought I would knock him out before the fight, but during the fight, I realized he has great defense. I had no idea he could take so many punches and still be in the fight. I realized it would be very hard to knock him out. I respect him very much.
“It was not the toughest fight of my career, but I’m happy because it was a hard 12 rounds.”
Cleverly left the light-heavyweight division following the Kovalev loss for a three-fight stint at the cruiserweight division. After losing in a rematch to Tony Bellew, Cleverly had second thoughts and had worked since the end of last year to make 175 pounds.
Following a first-round destruction of Tomas Man in May, some believed Cleverly had transitioned from a proficient boxer to a brawler, but some were doubting that because of the quality of the opponent.
After the performance he delivered tonight, you be the judge.
Fonfara connected on 474 of 1,413 punches (34 percent), and Cleverly landed 462 of 1,111 punches (42 percent).
“It was a fantastic fight. I had a feeling that our styles were going to gel, and that’s what happened. It was a war from the very first bell, and I am not surprised that it broke the records for the most punches thrown because when we started, we just didn’t stop,” Cleverly said.
“He [Fonfara] can really bang – he’s not far off Sergey Kovalev for power. I thought I had him until the nose went, and I think without that, I could’ve got the win.”
Fonfara improved to 28-3 with 16 knockouts and collects his third consecutive victory following a unanimous decision defeat to Adonis Stevenson a year ago, although he managed to drop the WBC light-heavyweight titleholder with a well-timed right hand late in the ninth round.
-Ryan O’Hara @OHaraSports
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