Mike Tyson appeared to be on a completely different planet while at this year’s ESPY Awards.
The boxing legend Tyson was one of three presenters for the Best Single Game Performance Award at Wednesday’s ESPYs at David H. Koch Theater in New York, N.Y. While up on the stage with Jake Paul and DJ Khaled, Tyson had the honor of announcing the winner of the award — Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Tyson’s co-presenter Paul then announced to the crowd that Ohtani could not be in attendance that night but noted that “he sends his gratitude and appreciation to ESPN and everyone who voted for him.”
That then led to an extremely strange comment from Tyson away from the microphone but still within earshot. “Shohei’s a guy?” Tyson appeared to ask Paul. Here is the bizarre video.
"Shohei's a guy?"
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 16, 2026
Mike Tyson awarded Shohei Ohtani the ESPY for best single-game performance, but had one very important question afterwards pic.twitter.com/sdDZFW0dwS
The four-time MVP Ohtani is one of the most popular and well-known athletes on the entire planet right now. As such, it is pretty hard to believe that the 60-year-old Tyson is so far out of touch that he does not even know what gender Ohtani is (especially since Ohtani’s image was being prominently displayed in the theater both during and immediately before that moment as well).
It is possible that Tyson was actually making a complimentary “that guy” comment about Ohtani there instead. But given that Tyson has produced some other truly zany moments in recent years, the likelier explanation here is that the former heavyweight champion legitimately did not even have the remotest clue who Ohtani was.
