Shohei Ohtani collected another trophy for his mantel on Wednesday night at the 2026 ESPY Awards, but the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar wasn’t the one who ended up dominating the conversation. That distinction fell, improbably, to the man handing out his award — boxing legend Mike Tyson, whose off-the-cuff question about baseball’s most famous player has since ricocheted across the internet.
Ohtani won the ESPY for best single-game performance, one of two honors he took home on the night. The other, for Best Major League Baseball Player, cemented what fans already know: the four-time MVP is, by nearly any measure, the best player in the sport. Tyson, apparently, needed a moment to catch up.
The Question That Went Viral
Tyson presented the award alongside social media personality Jake Paul — his former boxing rival — and music producer DJ Khaled. Tyson opened the envelope with a theatrical pause, said “check this out,” and announced Ohtani as the winner with a flawless pronunciation, though a brief pause hinted he wasn’t entirely familiar with the name.
Because Ohtani wasn’t present, Paul stepped in to deliver the acceptance remarks. Paul told the crowd that Ohtani was unable to attend and expressed the Dodgers star’s appreciation to ESPN and the voters.
Then came the moment. As the music swelled and the trio moved off the stage, Tyson — still evidently processing the name — leaned toward Paul and asked a question that would define the night’s highlight reel: “Shohei’s a guy?”
Tyson didn’t say it directly into the microphone, but he was close enough that the broadcast picked it up cleanly. Paul’s reply was audible too: “Yeah, he’s a guy. He’s a guy.” The exchange suggested Tyson had been under the impression Ohtani was a female athlete — despite the fact that the award he’d just presented was specifically for best men’s single-game performance.
The clip surfaced almost immediately on social media and became one of the evening’s most replayed moments. What was meant to celebrate one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet instead became a lesson, delivered in real time, that even sporting royalty can have blind spots outside their own arena. Tyson, by all appearances, is not a baseball fan.
The Performance Worth the Trophy
The confusion did nothing to diminish the achievement being honored. Ohtani earned the award for his showing in Game 4 of the 2025 National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, a display of two-way dominance that even his fiercest doubters would struggle to describe as anything short of extraordinary.
On the mound, he threw six scoreless innings and struck out 10 batters. At the plate, he launched three home runs. It was the kind of afternoon that redefines what a single player can do in a game, and many have called it arguably the greatest playoff performance ever recorded. It’s the sort of night that leaves rival fans uneasy, if only because Ohtani, still in his prime, has no obvious ceiling in sight.
A Return to the Lineup
Ohtani’s absence from the ceremony fit a broader storyline that has followed him into the second half of the season. He missed the 2026 All-Star Game earlier in the week because of a knee injury, and he didn’t make his scheduled start last Friday, ahead of the Midsummer Classic.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani underwent a procedure to remove fluid from his knee and address discomfort. The procedure was described as a maintenance step rather than a serious setback, and Ohtani is expected to rejoin the lineup for the Dodgers’ road series against the New York Yankees beginning on Friday.
His return comes at a critical juncture. The Dodgers own the best record in Major League Baseball at 61-36, and the club is chasing a third consecutive World Series title. With Ohtani anchoring both the rotation and the lineup, Los Angeles enters the stretch run as the team to beat, and his presence remains central to any championship aspirations.
As for Tyson, his brief lapse in baseball literacy proved harmless, if endlessly shareable. The former heavyweight champion may not have known who Ohtani was walking onto the stage. By the time the clip finished circulating online, though, there was little chance he’d forget the name again.