Michael Smith he has already gained enormous admiration Łukasz Małyr during his short time at PDC. ‘The Nuke’ was virtually unknown to the public 12 months ago, but is now considered one of the sport’s biggest superstars.
Smith was a guest on the latest episode William Hill’s YouTube show “Club 501”.which is presented by a former darter Wayne Mardle. There, “BullyBoy” shared his admiration for the teenage flash sensation. “Luke Littler has proven that he is not just a kid, but also a renowned player,” the former world champion said with some admiration. “I was never afraid of him, I don’t know if other players were afraid of him too. Some players actually think, ‘I’ve got Luke, maybe I can get some legs and catch him somewhere,’ but I don’t think so. that’s what big players like Michael van Gerwen think, they won’t be afraid of him, but there’s an aura around him at the moment.
Smith points to the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts final as an example. “Martin Lukeman did the same in the Grand Slam final. He just looked like he was happy to be there. It shouldn’t be like this. People should want to go against him and knock him off the board, but no one wants to do that right now,” Smith explains. “He abuses players with his bullpen and double-double shots.”
For Smith, the World Darts Championships begin on Thursday, December 19, with a singles match against him Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven. Last year, ‘Bullyboy’ faced Doets and the Englishman then narrowly managed to win 3-2 in sets in a thriller. “It was a strange feeling to leave as the reigning world champion,” Smith recalled. “Being back at Alexandra Palace and seeing your face on the wall, you keep going with the hope that this won’t be the last time they call you the ‘reigning and defending’ World Champion, because if you lose, you’ll be a ‘former’ World Champion and I won’t I have time for this title. I had all this in my head and that’s why I think I started slowly against Kevin Doets.
Another factor was that Smith had already played on opening night. “I didn’t want to be beaten. I didn’t want to spend the rest of the tournament watching from home – my Christmas would be ruined!” – sums up. “If you win your first match, you will have a really good Christmas and you will be able to watch it on TV. But the worst thing for me would be to be called a ‘former’ world champion.”
