A look at key events in the life of Johnny Lawrence - including his THROWING the infamous All-Valley Championship fight with Daniel LaRusso.
First of all, I loved The Karate Kid, and I loved Cobra Kai. Mr. Miyagi was the perfect father figure and I always loved the fact that they emphasized Okinawa as the birthplace of karate. This is just an alternative view from Johnny's perspective. A lot of people have sympathy for Daniel I felt for him too, being the new kid. I just never believed Johnny would lose to such an obvious kick. Johnny was a legit black belt, no one even scored a point on him in the year before and Daniel was a guy who trained with the janitor in the backyard a couple of months - most of which time he was washing cars, painting, and sanding. I was just out of the Marines when this movie came out and was working as an assistant karate instructor at Jennings Karate Academy in San Clemente and was attending tournaments throughout southern California. It always seemed ridiculous to me that Johnny fell for that kick. It would be like a beginner with two months training beating Johnny Gyro and the whole USA karate team in their prime. Agree? Disagree?
"To clear a few thing up from the comments. I am NOT saying Daniel is a Bully and Johnny a guiltless hero. I guess you could call Johnny a bully but on the bully scale he is very mild. Every action has some sort of cause and effect issue and most hard core bullies seem to have no reason other than opportunity to shame, harm or take from a victim. The point of the video is not who is and who is not a bully - rather no one is ALL good or ALL bad. The part about throwing the fight is from the pure and simple fact that Johnny was by far a superior fighter."