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Back in 1984, William Zabka was black-belt bully Johnny Lawrence in "The Karate Kid."

Leading a group of karate bad boys called the Cobra Kai, he tormented Ralph Macchio's Daniel-San character before eventually catching a crane-kick to the face in the movie's underdog-makes-good ending.

After that, Zabka carved a niche for himself as the bully in '80s flicks like "Back to School" and "Just One of the Guys."

These days, he's Billy Zabka, a 42-year-old music publisher and filmmaker -- his 2003 short film "Most" earned him an Academy Award nomination.

Last year, Zabka reimagined his "Karate Kid" role in the music video for the No More Kings song "Sweep the Leg," which he starred in and directed. It also helped bring "Karate Kid" back into the pop-culture lexicon -- though some would argue that it never really left.

Now Zabka's been recruited by the Fresno Grizzlies as a special guest for the team's Totally Rad '80s Night on Thursday at Chukchansi Park. We got on the phone with him to talk "Karate Kid" and all other things Zabka.

He struck first, struck hard and showed no mercy.

Question: Why do a minor league baseball '80s night?

Answer: I like the Grizzlies. I like baseball. it's close to where I live. It sounds like a fun event. For years, I didn't do anything related to the '80s or "Karate Kid," but since the music video came out, I've just met so many people who loved that time. It's fun for them. It's [fun] for me too, to kinda meet it head on like I did with the video.

They said something about having their mascot, Parker, crane-kick you. Is that gonna happen?

No, that's not gonna happen [laughs]. Hey you know, something may break out, but nothing's planned. I'm just going to hang out with the team. After getting to know the [Grizzlies'] promotional guys, they're really creative and cool guys, and they've done a lot of cool promotions. You know, every now and then I'll just say yes to something, and this is one of them.

It seems like you have a certain amount of humility about the past. I know a lot of people probably in your situation would be like, "I don't want to talk about that stuff." Has it always been that way for you?

It's like your first girlfriend. You always love your first girlfriend, but you don't always want to talk about her. You always have fond memories of her. After a period of time, maybe 10, 20 years, you can have coffee.

How often do you get recognized as Johnny?

Most people will joke around and call me Johnny. In fact, I had lunch yesterday with a guy for a business deal, and he kept calling me Johnny instead of Billy. I just kept laughing at him, going, "It happens all the time."

Do you go, "You know, I was nominated for an Oscar," and throw that back at them?

I don't throw it back at them, but it's in my back pocket. I'm a filmmaker, and I'm just as proud of my film that I wrote and produced as I am about "Karate Kid." In fact, they're about equal.

What is it about "Karate Kid" that's still relevant almost 25 years later?

I think the thing that holds the whole movie together is Bananarama, "Cruel Summer."

See, I thought it was "You're the Best Around."

Yeah, "You're the Best Around," too. Everybody loves an underdog story. It was a magical movie, it really was. It was just one of those heart projects where everybody got into their characters in such a deep way. I think people relate to the whole thing.

The bad guys weren't really bad guys, they were misled. The Cobra Kai, they had their sensei misdirecting them. I think it's a morality play. It's right and wrong and who's your mentor and how are you going to use what you know, with a climatic ending. I don't know, the movie stuck.

The other night it popped on AMC and I got sucked into it and forgot I was in the movie, like, "Hey, that's a pretty good movie." It still works. I get calls every now and then, 'Hey, I'm watching you right now and you just got your butt kicked again." I'm waiting for them to play the real ending where I win. But that's another story.