BoxRec

Of course, Muhammad Ali often directed invective against his foes but only a relative few "earned" a nickname from him. Following are those I recall:

Sonny Liston-The Bear
Floyd Patterson-The Rabbit
Ernie Terrell-The Octopus
Joe Frazier-The Gorilla
George Foreman-The Mummy
Earnie Shavers-The Acorn
Leon Spinks-The Vampire
Mike Weaver (never actually fought Ali)-The Beaver
Antonio Inoki (wrestler)-The Pelican
George Chuvalo-The Washerwoman
Oscar Bonavena-The Beast

Any others? Again, I'm talking only specific nicknames, not general insults from Ali. Not sure whether or not this subject was covered before. Some have said, maybe with more than a bit of justification, that Ali giving Black-American fighters these sorts of names was in itself racist. On the other hand, it probably should be noted that most of Ali's opponents were Black-American and (as with the last three names on this list) he could prove himself an "equal opportunity" offender.

Anthony

Ali's nicknames were always designed to promote fights and add a bit of humour , unfortunately many would have you believe his nicnames were provoked by malice but this was only in a few cases as in when he fought Patterson and Terrell.
In about the early 90s when Shannon Briggs started his career his manager arranged a meeting with Ali and when the two met Ali took one look at Shannon and his then long blonde dreadlocks and whispered 'pretty lady'........which just cracked everyone up, including Briggs.