History Awesome / AshitaNoJoe

** In the practical part of the test, Nishi easily parries, dodges and softens the attacks of his opponent with such skills that Inagaki, who came second at the national high school boxing tournament, can't help but praise him. Then he counterattacks-and his opponent can only thank the bell for not being knocked out by Nishi's powerful and accurate attacks.

** Joe couldn't make his professional debut due Danpei being disbarred and the Japanese Boxing Commission refusing to reinstate him [[JerkassHasAPoint due his past attitude as a boxing club owner being awful and borderline criminal]]. How does Joe get Danpei reinstated? Easy: right after Rikiishi's match, [[RefugeInAudacity he goes to Wolf, provokes him, and then]] ''[[RefugeInAudacity scores a double KO in front of the journalists]]'' [[RefugeInAudacity to make it look like Otaka, Wolf's manager and the commission member who disbarred Danpei, refuses to reinstate him because he's scared of Joe]]. With Shiraki spontaneously helping him perfecting the ruse, it works.

* Anime only: on the day he goes back to the slums, Joe gets in a fight with Nishi... Who quickly ''overpowers him''. Turns out Nishi had been training to become a professional boxer since he was released...

** This match makes everything Rikiishi did so far even better, as it makes clear he's a bit rusty... And in juvenile prison he was even ''more'' rusty. The guy could punch out bulls while rusty, [[WorfHadTheFlu and that's the only reason Joe could fight him almost evenly]].

** Joe being Joe, he ''demanded'' to fight with [=12oz=] gloves and no protections too. Even with his fists weakened by the gloves' sheer weight and padding and [[GoodOldFisticuffs his refusal to follow Danpei's teachings]] out of anger at him training Aoyama almost exclusively, he manages to ''draw blood'' once he connects.

** In the manga version, the big boxing tournament is fought by teams. Nishi is in his dorm's team... And, even with [=12oz=] gloves to reduce his strength both by the padding and him not being used to them, he wins by knock-out with ''three punches''. His reputation among the inmates immediately went from "big large coward" to "big large guy that hits almost as strong as Joe and Rikiishi and is smart enough not to poke a hornet nest".

** When Aoyama fought him, Joe was [[GoodOldFisticuffs refusing to use the boxing techniques taught him by Danpei]] out of spite at Danpei apparently abandoning him to train Aoyama. [[WeakButSkilled Aoyama went to the offensive and almost knocked him down immediately, before using his old tactic, further perfected with parries, to overwhelmed even Joe]]-and forcing him to not only use boxing techniques but ''copy Aoyama's''. And while Joe ultimately won, he fell down soon after being proclaimed the victor, as Aoyama hurt him ''that'' bad.

** When Aoyama fought him, Joe was [[GoodOldFisticuffs refusing to use the boxing techniques taught him by Danpei]] out of spite at Danpei apparently abandoning him to train Aoyama. [[WeakButSkilled Aoyama's tactic, further perfected with parries, overwhelmed even Joe]], to the point of forcing him to not only use boxing techniques but ''copy Aoyama's''. And while Joe ultimately won, he fell down soon after being proclaimed the victor, as Aoyama hurt him ''that'' bad.

* At the juvie boxing tournament, Rikiishi demanded to fight wearing [=12oz=] gloves and no protections, to make it fairer to the ones who would have to face a professional boxer. His first match ended in sixteen seconds, most of which were spent ''chasing down an opponent that didn't want to be punched by him''. Also, there was no need to count: when Rikiishi finally uppercuted his opponent, he ''[[MegatonPunch flew out of the ring]]'', non hitting the hard ground only because his legs got entangled in the ropes-and then the helmet fell down, its strap being broken by Rikiishi's one punch.

** At his first match in the tournament, Aoyama spends the warm-up launching looks not at his opponent but at ''Joe'', as he knows he's gonna win this. Then the gong rings, and Aoyama proceeds to use footwork and a dodging technique compared to konnyaku jelly to let his poor opponent tire himself out before [[DeathOfAThousandCuts punching him 'till he falls]]. Many compared Aoyama to a ''ninja'' for this-and his cellmates recognized the konnyaku dodging as what he used to take Numata down.

** The non-obvious one: he taught the overly aggressive Joe to defend himself. Even Joe admitted he would have ignored him had Danpei tried normal means... But making Aoyama capable of defeating him in a straight fight drove the point home.

** Under Danpei tutelage, Aoyama learned how to boxe properly in ''a week''. The first to find out was one of his cell mates, one even larger than the previous one that dared Aoyama to defeat him if he wanted to take part in the tournament-and Aoyama did just that, by ''knock out''.

** Under Danpei tutelage, Aoyama learned how to boxe properly in ''a week''. The first to find out was one of his cell mates, that dared Aoyama to defeat him if he wanted to take part in the tournament-and Aoyama did just that.

*** Achieving a DoubleKnockout with Rikiishi also earns Joe the others' respect: until then he was openly despised for his attitude in general and toward Yoko in particular, if feared for his strength, but after managing to rise up again and again against Rikiishi until he could use the move that allowed a weaker fighter to take out Fighting Harada finally earned him their respect.

** He ''won'' his first match-first, he knocked down said much larger opponent with a cross [[TalkToTheFist while he was boasting about the many times he had beaten him up in the past]], then he started imitating Joe, running around to tire out his opponent and using the counter, plus using the gloves to soften up the enemy punches until the enemy flipped-and got disqualified.

** He ''won'' his first match-first, he knocked down said much larger opponent with a cross [[TalkToTheFist while he was boasting about the many times he had beaten him up in the past]], then he started imitating Joe, running around to waste time and using the ropes to increase his hitting power, until the enemy flipped-and got disqualified.

** Shared one: the match was so awesome that all the inmates instantly became boxing fans and wanted to have a tournament.

** Rikiishi had promised he'd take him down in one minute. By standing again and again, Joe not only resisted ''more'' than one minute, but actually brought the match to the second round.
** Thanks to the cross counter, Joe scored a draw.

* Rikiishi realizing Joe was training the cross counter simply from thinking about the aftermath of Danpei teaching it (namely, Joe down and Danpei having suffered a hit hard enough to bleed from the mouth)-and training against it against charging ''bulls''.

* Rikiishi realizing Joe was training the cross counter simply from the injuries he left on his "sparring partners"-and training against it against charging ''bulls''.

* Danpei knows that Joe cannot become a boxer if he doesn't serve his term, but the police cannot get at him due the stones he and the kids throw at anyone coming too close. So he goes in himself, as he knows the kids won't hurt him... And when Joe refuses to give himself up, he shows him exactly the difference between a boxer and [[GoodOldFisticuffs a street fighter]] by [[CurbStompBattle beating the crap out of him]]. And that's with Danpei being [[BadassGrandpa old]], tired by his two jobs, and weakened by [[HandicappedBadass not having an eye]] and years of alcoholism. No wonder Joe actually starts respecting him...

** How Joe mastered it: he pissed off the other inmates so they'd try to lynch him, and then, after running to make sure the different running speeds would keep them from coming at him all together, he went at them with the cross counter, becoming slightly better at every inmate he punched out.

* Yoko gets her first by being the KidWithTheLeash to ''Rikiishi''. And every single inmate but Joe, but Rikiishi stands out.

* Danpei knows that Joe cannot become a boxer if he doesn't serve his term, but the police cannot get at him due the stones he and the kids throw at anyone coming too close. So he goes in himself, as he knows the kids won't hurt him... And when Joe refuses to give himself up, he shows him exactly the difference between a boxer and [[GoodOldFisticuffs a street fighter]] by [[CurbStompBattle beating the crap out of him]]. And that's with Danpei being [[BadassGrandpa old]], tired by his two jobs, and weakened by [[HandicappedBadass not having an eye]] and years of alcoholism. No wonder Joe actually starts respecting him...