JOSH ROCK believes he won’t make it to World No.1 because Luke Littler is the “next Phil Taylor”.
The Country Antrim hot prospect beat Joe Cullen 8-6 to win Players Championship 17 in Milton Keynes.
It was the 23-year-old’s third PDC title and now he is aiming for Littler and a Premier League place.
He said: “Last year I reached five finals and lost all of them. This year I’ve reached three and won two, so it’s obviously a better record.
“I’m going to keep pushing and pushing. I want that top 16 place in the world and after that the top 10.
“I believe I can do that. I can get in the top two in the future. I believe in myself, I’ll get to the top two in the world.
“Luke Littler will be No.1 because he’s the next Phil Taylor in my opinion!
“I can get myself into the reckoning for the Premier League, 100 per cent.
“I know I really want the Premier League. I know I can also be in the World Series.”
This year Rock reached the quarter-final stage at both the 2024 German Darts Grand Prix and the 2024 European Darts Grand Prix.
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And in May the Northern Irish star won his first European Tour title, beating Jonny Clayton 8–4 in the final of the 2024 Dutch Darts Championship.
But Littler’s rise to stardom has wowed everyone and because of how much he has achieved at the age of 17.
The Warrington wonderkid made more history by becoming the youngest-ever player to reach the World Darts Championship final.
Despite falling short of victory to Luke Humphries the teen sensation has won a number of titles this year.
Littler cemented his place among the tungsten elite by winning the Premier League Darts final back in May – taking home the £275k prize money.
LUKE LITTLER has called out social media star Beavo for a boxing fight.
Littler, 17, has taken the world by storm after exploding on to the darts scene last Christmas.
But he’s already eyeing a switch to the boxing ring.
On a trip Stateside ahead of the US Darts Masters, Littler was asked who he’d choose to fight while appearing on Ariel Helwani’s MMA podcast.
And, waving off suggestions of Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith, he instead chose TikTok sensation Beavo.
Littler said: “It’s like a proper person, it’s not a darts player.
“Do I like him? Nah. Beavo.
“He just swallows potatoes whole on TikTok.”
