Luke Littler is ‘sport’s quickest millionaire’ and ‘similar to Mike Tyson’
Darts legend Dennis Priestley has likened the meteoric rise of “sport’s fastest millionaire” Luke Littler to that of a youthful Mike Tyson.
At just 17, Littler has been tearing up the pro circuit since his jaw-dropping run to the World Championship final back in January. Fast forward less than half a year, and the teenager’s already bagged himself the Premier League title in his first season, not to mention scooping up wins at both the Austrian and Belgian Darts Opens.
Those three top spots have netted him a cool £335,000 in winnings, and that’s without counting the tidy £20,000 from his Bahrain Masters triumph. But Priestley is betting that Littler’s bank balance has already smashed the million-pound mark, thanks to a flurry of lucrative endorsement deals off the oche.
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“Luke Littler will already be a millionaire thanks to his prize money as well as all the sponsorship deals he has been signing outside of darts which is just remarkable,” the two-time world champ told BestAnonymousCasinos.
“He’s done all this just within six months, he has been the fastest millionaire darts player of all time and probably the fastest millionaire in all of sport, at the age of just 17.”
Littler’s ascent mirrors the early days of boxing titan Tyson, who also ditched school when his knockout potential was spotted and quickly became a household name, reports the Express.
(Image: The Ring Magazine via Getty Images)
Tyson was a mere 15-year-old when he clinched the first of his two Junior Olympic titles as a heavyweight in 1981. After turning pro, he amassed a 37-0 record over the space of four years, knocking out his first 19 opponents.
“Luke Littler has exploded onto the scene like a young Mike Tyson, who would often defeat his opponents on fear alone,” Priestley asserted. “There is that fear factor around Littler already, which stems from the way he plays and wins.”
Current world champion Luke Humphries managed to halt Littler’s rise at Alexandra Palace in January. However, since then, he’s proven more difficult to stop after getting his bearings against top-tier opposition.
(Image: Getty Images)
But Priestley, aged 73, insisted that Phil Taylor in his heyday would be a match for the up-and-comer, explaining: “Watching Luke Littler, Phil Taylor would love to be young again because he has that mindset means he loves to overcome obstacles. A young Phil Taylor would’ve been good enough to knock Littler down a peg or two.”
Taylor has hinted he’d be willing to face off against Littler if their schedules permitted, despite having retired from the professional circuit. The 63-year-old secured 16 World Championship titles (14 in the PDC and two in the WDF) throughout his career, a record that’s unlikely to ever be surpassed.
Littler expressed his openness to the idea during a recent stint on The MMA Hour, stating he’d relish the opportunity to go up against Taylor. And now, ‘The Power’ isn’t the sole sporting veteran being likened to the darts sensation who’s taken the world by storm.
