Snooker’s Ronnie O’Sullivan compares himself to boxing champion Tyson Fury: ‘I picked myself off the floor’

O’Sullivan hailed Fury’s reputation for taking on all comers

Ronnie O’Sullivan has compared himself to the heavyweight champion (PA Wire)

Six-time snooker world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has compared himself to boxing heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury because he has “never ducked a challenge”.

O’Sullivan is currently at the UK Championship taking on Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham as they vie for a place in the quarter-finals in York. The 45-year-old, who turns 46 on the day of the final when he could win a record eighth UK title, is proud of his record in the game.

O’Sullivan has often criticised Formula 1 drivers for being part of a sport which is not played on a level playing field, with different quality of car for each driver, but he hailed Fury’s reputation for taking on all comers.

And he said: “I’d like to think I’m in a sport where I’m not ducking people. I’ve played the best at their best, they’ve played me at my best. It’s one of them sports, a bit like golf and tennis, where you’re forced to play the opponent.

“Some other sports they don’t test themselves against the best for whatever reason. Listen, I like to think I’ve took on all comers in my career. There’s a few sports like that, not just Formula One. In boxing you get someone like Fury who fights anyone, then you get other fighters who refuse to fight certain fighters.

“I like to think I’m a Fury, never ducked anyone, never ducked a challenge, picked myself off the floor and come out fighting even when I’ve not felt like fighting. I think that’s the only way you can judge if a sportsman is truly a great or not, if they’ve fought whoever was the greatest at the time in front of them.”

Fury is currently awaiting his next fight after seeing off Deontay Wilder once and for all in their trilogy.