I’LL FINISH AT THE TOP
The Power: I won’t end up a darts has-been.. I don’t want to leave my sport like Ali or Tyson did
PHIL TAYLOR is closer to the final curtain than a draper and his walk-on aisle at the darts will soon be his sunset boulevard.
At 56, the greatest marksman of all will take another encore at Alexandra Palace on Sunday night in the William Hill PDC World Championship, warning: “I’m not going to outstay my welcome.”
Taylor, always a world-class namedropper, says he doesn’t want fans to remember him an old man being beaten up by young hustlers as in Muhammad Ali’s tragic last fights.
The Power still generates high voltage, not to mention the highest viewing figures on Sky Sports outside the Premier League, and when he takes the stage against John Bowles or David Platt on Sunday, the atmosphere will be electric.
But Taylor wants to go out as the huddled masses remember him – at the top.
Still bullish about his form, and refreshed after a fortnight at his Ribby Hall hideaway near Blackpool, Taylor said: “There seems to be a lot of folks out there who think I’m over the hill, I’m past it and I’m never going to win a 17th world title.
“One day soon they may be right – but not yet. I’m not going to the world championship to walk on stage, wave to the crowd, make up the numbers and disappear again.
“If you look at my record over the past 12 months, I won the Champions League of Darts in Cardiff, I reached the Premier League play-off final, the world matchplay final, I won tournaments in Australia and the World Cup for England with Adrian Lewis.
“Hell, bud, if that’s washed-up, I’ll have some more of it – but not too much. At one point I was thinking of playing until I’m 60, but that’s another four years away and I’m not sure I can keep going that long.
“I don’t want to outstay my welcome and fade into the sunset like Muhammad Ali. He was the greatest, and he should be remembered for floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee, but he finished his career getting beaten up by Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick.
“Mike Tyson was the most ferocious boxer on the planet, but by the end he was losing more than he won – I don’t want that to happen to me.
“I’m not motivated by money, I don’t need to keep playing darts to pay bills.
“I want to go out at the top. I want to be remembered as a winner. I want to be remembered for winning 16 world titles. You don’t have to like me, but I hope you’ll respect what I achieved.
“If Andy Murray retired tomorrow, he would finish No.1 and everyone would remember him as one of the greats. I hope we’re not watching him lose in the first round at Wimbledon in 10 years’ time because he clung on for too long.” (7pm, Sky Sports Darts) Jerry Hendriks v Warren Parry (preliminary round), Gerwyn Price (19) v Jonny Clayton Steve Beaton (27) v Devon Petersen Peter Wright (3) v Hendriks/Parry