02.05.06 – By Aaron King: So, I’ve been sitting around my room a lot lately, which means I’ve been watching a lot of ESPN. Like the rest of you, I’ve seen the commercial for the “Live from Las Vegas” programming scheduled for this Thursday about eight or nine million times. It features a Contender special and some psychopath doing a backflip over the fountains at Caesar’s Palace in a dirt bike.
Before I began to find the commercial unbearable, it did accomplish something worthwhile with yours truly. It introduced me to one of my new favorite names in boxing – Archak “Shark Attack” Ter-Meliksetian. It really just roles off the tongue. It got me thinking about my favorite nicknames in boxing history.
10. Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker
Like most of the other nicknames on this list, his was perfect. It’s also one of the least intimidating monikers in the history of the sport, making it even better. After all, there were an awful lot of men who got beat up by “Sweet Pea.”
9. Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis
Six heads, no chin. Makes me laugh every time.
8. Tommy “Hitman” Hearns
That right hand was more deadly than any ammo any assassin could ever fire.
7. “Hands of Stone” Roberto Duran
Los manos de piedra – The name doesn’t lie. Duran could hit.
6. “Smokin’” Joe Frazier
Left hook was one of the best punches in boxing history, and it truly did smoke.
5. James “Bonecrusher” Smith
If that nickname doesn’t make you recoil and wet your pants, I don’t know what will.
4. Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini
Boom boom was right. As Jim Lampley likes to say, “There’s no pretense of defense.”
3. “The Bayonne Bleeder” Chuck Wepner
You gotta love a guy whose name immortalizes his toughness. There wasn’t much else about him to celebrate.
2. “The Wild Bull of Pampas” Luis Firpo
One of the classic nicknames in boxing lore. His fight with Dempsey in 1923 personified what it was to be the “Wild Bull.”
1. “The Living Death” Lew Jenkins
This nickname doesn’t get enough pub, perhaps because Jenkins had a better known alias – “The Sweet Swatter from Sweetwater” or sometimes just “Sweetwater Swatter.” But “The Living Death”? It doesn’t get better than that.
I owe a few of the more influential nicknames that didn’t make my list some recognition:
“Sugar Ray” (both Robinson and Leonard) the most recognizable nickname in boxing, “The Greatest” (Muhammad Ali), “The Brown Bomber” (Joe Louis), “The Body Snatcher” (Mike McCallum), “The Executioner” (Bernard Hopkins) and Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield.
This list is, of course, not exhausted. We all have our favorites, and these are mine, so I’m looking forward to seeing what all of you say about this.
Contact Aaron King at aking1@ithaca.edu