Quite. But it's more about sensationalism than skin colour.
Nicolai Valuev is not black but, thanks to his large stature and massive brow-ridges, was routinely referred to as a "freak', the "beast from the East" or simply "The beast".
I must confess that before today, I cannot recall hearing or reading of Valuev being called a "freak". However, I have regularly heard him called the Beast from the East.
I think this is slightly different, at least in emphasis. "Beast" has favourable connotations of strength, and is even used as a sign of respect for someone who is tough. Someone who can ride 100 miles in 4 hours on a fixed gear bike is "a bit of a beast".
The word also has some very negative connotations in different circumstances, but the two usages do not really overlap.
Example: in his early career, Mike Tyson was "a beast" in the favourable sense: tough, hard, unstoppable. After the famous Holyfield's ear debacle, and the conviction for rape, he was seen by many as more "bestial" as in a savage and dangerous animal.
"Brute" is a similar word. A boxer can down someone with a "brutal" uppercut without any suggestion that he is subhuman, but a man who beats his wife is a "brute" with the word rightly having a very negative meaning.
One of my sons who is a personal trainer refers to a "beasting" as a thorough and exhausting work out, typically of long duration and high intensity. He would not be upset to be called "a bit of a beast" (in the right context) but if he were called, "You big ape" with all the connotations of stupidity, he would be angry and hurt.
So Valuev, who is big, strong and fierce (three good things in the context of being a boxer) was called "the Beast" — and the fact that he is from the East added to the likelihood of the nickname sticking.
I cannot think of any context in which likening a human to an ape is generally accepted as a compliment or as affectionate. The nearest is perhaps a mother affectionately calling her child, "You little monkey," which carries a suggestion of light hearted mischief and cleverness.
It is all a matter of how the individual sees it. I see the pictures of a non-white person being called an "apeman" with all the assumptions that go with that. I'm not blaming anyone today or who has posted in this thread, but commenting on the attitudes and mores of the time when he was being "studied" — rather than, for example, being left alone, or helped.
That picture of him standing up and smiling says it all to me: he looks like a decent bloke, whatever his physical and mental abnormalities: a human being with difficulties, but not an ape. Those other head only shots appear designed to portray him as more apelike than he was.