And the Power reckons Littler’s simple pre-match routines at tournaments are “doing the other players’ heads in” as they struggle to cope with the teenager on the oche.
Littler, 17, is the tournament favourite for the PDC World Darts Championship, which starts next month at Ally Pally.
Ten title wins in 2024 – the latest was last weekend’s Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton – has seen him rise up to fifth spot in the world rankings.
Should he continue this excellent form, there is a great chance he will receive the Sid Waddell Trophy come the evening of January 3.
And if he did that, he would eclipse the feat of Dutch prodigy Jelle Klaasen, who became Lakeside champion aged 21 years old in January 2006 when he beat Raymond van Barneveld 7–5 in the final.
Taylor, 64, has a record 16 world titles to his name – the first, in the BDO, was achieved in 1990 – and he hopes that mark remains unmatched over the coming decades as Littler inevitably gets better.
The former world No.1 said: “I’ll tell you what though, if there’s anybody that could do it, it’s this young lad now.
“He has got the age on his side and the ability – you never know. You never know with him.
“I have seen players come and go over the years. It’s a matter of being dedicated.
But he’s more interested in looking after his mother and father than winning tournaments.
“It’s lovely to see. I have seen so many players where they start earning money and that ruins their career.
“But this lad, he just sits there, he’s quiet as a mouse. He’s lovely company to be with.
“They told me. They said, he just sits there, he doesn’t do anything. He hardly practises. He must practise obviously because he’s that good. But by ’eck, what a player.”
The draw for the 2024/25 World Championship takes place on Monday afternoon in central London, the day after the conclusion to the Players Championship Finals at Butlin’s Minehead.
Luke Humphries – who beat Littler 7-4 in the 2024 final – is the defending champion and will remain as world No.1 whatever happens over the Christmas period.
Teen darting sensation Luke Littler, who burst onto the scene at just 16, has boldly claimed he will clinch the title of world champion ‘at least once’ in his career. Over the past year, Littler has dazzled the darts world and amassed an impressive 10 titles.
In a conversation with talkSPORT, when posed with the idea of trading his accumulated trophies for a World Championship title, the Runcorn-born prodigy dismissed the notion outright. “I probably wouldn’t because I know myself, I know I’m going to be in the darts game for years and years. Obviously I’m going to back myself to win at least one of them,” he said.
Reflecting on his recent form, Littler added: “I feel like I can beat anyone, I’ve played most of the people competing in the Worlds and most of the time, I’ve got the better of them, I’ve won. But it’s just preparation, practice, luck of the draw, see who’s on my side, see who I can potentially meet and yeah, I can’t wait for it.”
With a confident stride and 10 titles to his name, Littler is tipped as a favourite for the upcoming World Championship. Now ranked fifth, there’s plenty of anticipation that ‘The Nuke’ might further ascend the PDC Order of Merit very soon.