Shohei Ohtani wins two ESPYs. Mike Tyson learns

Shohei Ohtani is a global famous person.

The 2026 ESPY Awards offered the latest evidence of that, with the Dodgers two-way participant profitable two trophies, as decided by fan votes, at Wednesday evening’s ceremony in New York.

But as shocking at it might be — particularly to those of us in the Los Angeles space who have witnessed the Japanese baseball phenomenon during his 9 years with our local MLB groups — not everybody on the planet is acquainted with the four-time MVP and two-time World Series champion.

The ESPYs offered evidence of that as effectively. Boxers Mike Tyson and Jake Paul joined musician DJ Khaled to current the award for best single-game efficiency. Ohtani — nominated for his historic Game 4 of the 2025 National League championship sequence against the Milwaukee Brewers — was the winner, as announced by Tyson.

Paul told the group that Ohtani was unable to attend the event, but “he sends his gratitude and appreciation to ESPN and everyone who voted for him.”

Afterward, a sizzling mic picked up Tyson seeming to ask Paul a reasonably sudden query:

“Shohei’s a guy?”

The query appeared to be real, and Paul gave a informal response to his pal and former boxing opponent. “Yeah, he’s a guy,” Paul appeared to say as the trio began leaving the stage.

The Times reached out to a Tyson consultant for remark but didn’t obtain an rapid response.

No shade toward Iron Mike for apparently not realizing a lot about Ohtani. Tyson is a legend in his sport and has a quantity of other ventures and pursuits that occupy his time. While he did throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a Brewers-Pittsburgh Pirates sport in 2014, Tyson just may not be all that into baseball.

Also, the identify Shohei isn’t at all common in the U.S., even amid Ohtani’s huge recognition. According to Parenting Patch, only 9 American infants got that identify in each of the last two years. All of them have been boys, but the chances are good that Tyson doesn’t know any of them.

If Tyson hasn’t been following Ohtani’s profession, though, he’s lacking out. Take the aforementioned Game 4 of last yr’s NLCS as an instance. Ohtani hit three home runs and pitched six-plus scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in a 5-1 victory over the Brewers that accomplished an NLCS sweep and despatched the Dodgers to the World Series for the second straight yr.

“That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time,” supervisor Dave Roberts said after the sport.

Ohtani was a lot more low-key in his postgame evaluation.

“This time around, it was my turn to be able to perform,” he said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I think just looking back over the course of the entire postseason, I haven’t performed to the expectation.”

With his efficiency that evening, Ohtani beat out fellow nominees Tyce Armstrong of Baylor baseball (three grand slams in a sport), Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat (83 factors in a sport) and Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame basketball (16 steals in a sport) for the award.

That epic sport actually contributed to Ohtani’s other ESPY of the evening. He was named best MLB participant over fellow nominees Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners and Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates.