I don't know, knowing him it could be, but coming from somebody who lives in the UK and knows exactly the kind of douchebags working at the BBC it could also be very real, I don't know about the punching part though that was started by the Daily Mirror, one interesting thing that has been started is that ITV is apparently wanting to offer him a job if he quits lol
I say go for it, but this is what I mean for those outside the UK when the BBC is the left equivalent of Fox News, they despise Jeremy Clarkson because he flies in the face of all their politically correct bullshit, so naturally he makes for an easy target if he does anything even slightly wrong in their eyes.
The funny thing is, the majority of the 'controversial' stuff the newspapers and media talk about is said sarcastically, but of course, that didn't stop them from misquoting him.