Ronnie O’Sullivan: Players can’t avoid rivals in snooker like they can in boxing

Ronnie O’Sullivan wishes he could pick and choose his path to a record eighth World Snooker Championship at the Crucible as he prepares to exchange blows with arguably his greatest rival in round two.

Snooker’s closest thing to the Ali-Frazier epics will get under way on Saturday when O’Sullivan faces four-time winner John Higgins in Sheffield, and as he homes in on eclipsing the mark he shares with Stephen Hendry he is resigned to doing things the hard way.

“But my whole career has been like, you’ve got to be here this time and play that person. And I’ve had to play all the best players of different generations. Unlike some of these fighters who get hand-picked opponents, I’ve had to play the field.

“That’s why I fell out of love with boxing, because some people get the easy path, some get the hard path. I respect boxers who do the hard path, because you think, at least you’re fighting the best out there. And I think my career has been like that.”

O’Sullivan might not share the anticipation of another three-day, best-of-25 frame Crucible encounter, but his memory of his first ever match against Higgins, at the Pontins Autumn Open, remains in his mind.

“I played him at Pontins when he was 14,” recalled O’Sullivan. “I’d never heard of John until that tournament, but you knew then it was an unbelievable player.

“I don’t really get turned on by that (facing Higgins again), to be honest with you. I just play the game.

“There isn’t an opponent out there that I can’t wait to go and play. That doesn’t float my boat. I love the game whoever’s sitting in the chair.”