Luke Littler’s chances of breaking Phil Taylor’s 16 world title haul rated by oche rival Rob Cross

ROB CROSS believes it’s “massively possible” that Luke Littler can break Phil Taylor’s 16 world title haul. The 2018 world champion is convinced that the teenage sensation has got the ability to hunt down The Power’s incredible Worlds record. Phil ‘The Power’ has the record for most Darts World Championship victories Credit: Getty Luke Littler is, in the eyes of many darts fans, the heir apparent to Taylor Credit: GETTY Cross, 35, has been Littler’s practice partner and stablemate at Target Darts and praised the people around The Nuke for looking after him. He revealed: “I think he’s amazing with his mindset. It’s more like point and go really. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! “He goes to this tournament, he won’t go to the next. He’s got the luxury with the ranking and it’s working for him. It’s keeping him fresh. “At the minute it’s all mapped out for Luke. Credit to his management and mum and dad, they really look after him. That allows him to do the job. “Right now it’s a perfect balance for him. They keep him level, he’s a great boy. “The big question is everyone saying he can catch Phil Taylor’s records. That is massively possible. “But it’s how long he wants to do it for. When you are looking at 16 world titles, he’s got two already, that’s a minimum of 14 years. “That’s a very long time to keep that intensity and hunger. He might be able to do that. Most read in Sport SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS Luke Littler has played down the prospect of breaking Phil Taylor’s World Championships record Credit: GETTY Rob Cross reckons Taylor could very well shatter Taylor’s record Credit: EPA “However his life will change in many ways I’m sure over those 14 years, than what it is now. “All great players can find something. Taylor had slumps and then he came back, Michael has done the same.” Littler was unstoppable on the way to the World Matchplay title last month but Cross believes he is beatable, but only over a shorter format. He added: “Littler on a first to 10 there was maybe a chance but when it was first to 16, that was it. No one was living with him over that distance. “We are going to go into other tournaments, shorter formats, set play comes in as well. That’s a totally different game. I think there are massive chances against him in the next few tournaments.” Cross has beaten other greats Taylor and Michael van Gerwen on the big stages. With Littler he believes it’s about taking the opportunities when they arrive. List of all-time Darts World Champions BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year. The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions. That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included. 1994 – Dennis Priestley 1995 – Phil Taylor 1996 – Phil Taylor (2) 1997 – Phil Taylor (3) 1998 – Phil Taylor (4) 1999 – Phil Taylor (5) 2000 – Phil Taylor (6) 2001 – Phil Taylor (7) 2002 – Phil Taylor (8) 2003 – John Part 2004 – Phil Taylor (9) 2005 – Phil Taylor (10) 2006 – Phil Taylor (11) 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld 2008 – John Part (2) 2009 – Phil Taylor (12) 2010 – Phil Taylor (13) 2011 – Adrian Lewis 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2) 2013 – Phil Taylor (14) 2014 – Michael van Gerwen 2015 – Gary Anderson 2016 – Gary Anderson (2) 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2) 2018 – Rob Cross 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3) 2020 – Peter Wright 2021 – Gerwyn Price 2022 – Peter Wright (2) 2023 – Michael Smith 2024 – Luke Humphries 2025 – Luke Littler 2026 – Luke Littler (2) Most World Titles 14 – Phil Taylor 3 – Michael van Gerwen 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright, Luke Littler 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries He said: “It’s all about hanging in there. You’re not going to get many chances. It’s about taking those chances. “You try and send them to somewhere they don’t want to be. “I would say years ago when you played Michael, he had such a threshold. It was like a game of tennis, he’d knock everything back at you and you’d have to answer again. “One dart is good enough sometimes to win and if you miss it, potentially it’s a runaway train. “You’ve got to hang on their shoulder and dig in as deep as you can. Your timing of shots, they need to be right. “If you can get them where they are a little bit nervous or get them thinking. That’s how I did it with Michael when I beat him in the Worlds in 2018.” Comment now