Getty Gianni Decenzo is photographed at The Paley Center for Media in 2019.
During the first season of the acclaimed series Cobra Kai, Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) and his best friend, Eli Moskowitz (Jacob Bertrand), are constantly bullied by popular students at West Valley High School. After befriending martial arts student Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña), the teenagers sign up to become students at the Cobra Kai dojo, owned by Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). While Eli — who now goes by Hawk — thrives at the martial arts studio, Demetri does not and ends up joining Daniel LaRusso’s (Ralph Macchio) dojo. After he writes a Yelp review about his negative experience with Sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove), Hawk begins to bully him. The former best friends face off during a massive fight in the halls of West Valley High School. Demetri manages to get the upper hand and kicks Hawk in the face, which causes him to fall backwards, shattering a trophy case. During Season 3, their rivalry worsens and escalates to the point that Hawk breaks Demetri’s arm. However, they eventually reconcile.
As fans are aware, Season 4, which is currently in production, will focus on Johnny and Daniel’s students preparing to face Cobra Kais at the upcoming All Valley Tournament. While it has not been confirmed which characters will make the final round, Gianni DeCenzo believes his character has a fighting chance of becoming the champion.
Gianni DeCenzo Explained Why His Believes He Character Could Win In a Recent Interview
During a January interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor discussed his hopes for the upcoming season. He revealed that he would like for his character’s relationship with Yasmine (Annalisa Cochrane) to be more developed and for his “home life” to be explored. He noted, however, that he is most interested in seeing Demetri at the All Valley tournament.
“Honestly the biggest thing I want to see — I kind of want to see him compete in the all Valley. I want to see how he fares in that. You know I think there’s a chance he could win. You know as long as you are standing between him and a trophy case. He’s got a pretty good shot,” said the actor.
DeCenzo then listed his character’s traits that make him a good martial artist.
“He’s got long limbs he can reach. He can kind of perceive who’s doing what, when, so he can kind of block better. But yeah he’s really growing as kind of a karate fighter. So I want to see how he fares in the All Valley,” explained the 19-year-old.
The Actor Also Talked About the Character Robby Keene
The actor also revealed that he believed Demetri’s former Miyagi-Do teammate Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) would be his “toughest competitor” during the tournament.
“[Robby] switched sides. And it would be interesting to see them fight because they were on the same team. There was never really any bad blood between them,” said DeCenzo.
He then mentioned Robby been under the influence of John Kreese.
“I think that if Kreese is kind of training Robby he could kind of go toward the dark side. It’s definitely possible and then who knows he could seriously mess up Demetri if he’s not careful,” said the actor.
To see more of DeCenzo, be sure to watch Cobra Kai, available on Netflix.
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Why Gianni DeCenzo Believes Demetri Could Win the All Valley