Rocket’s speedy recovery
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN shrugged off illness to hit top speed and see off car factory worker Luke Simmonds.
‘The Rocket’ is bidding for a record seventh UK Championship crown and a successful defence of his title in York.
And O’Sullivan (right) moved swiftly through the gears at the Barbican Centre to claim a 6-1 win after stalling early on against Isle of Wight amateur Simmonds.
The 38-year-old, who fell off the tour 14 years ago, makes body parts for Aston Martins and Ferraris. But after losing the first frame, O’Sullivan found a fuel injection and rattled off breaks of 97, 118, 112 and a closing 77 against the top-up player.
The victory set up a second-round clash with Ireland’s veteran threetime UK runner-up Ken Doherty, who O’Sullivan beat 10-1 in the 2001 final.
He said: “I was not feeling well, maybe I am coming down with some sort of virus. I felt awful and was really struggling. I was shaky.
“At one stage in the match I wasn’t sure I would get through it, I couldn’t focus on the balls.
“I might need some paracetamol – and maybe get my eyes tested as well.
“I thought Luke was a better player than many of those on the tour. He has more shots than 80 per cent of them and it’s hard to believe he is a car factory worker. But there are only about three players that are real quality that I know I have to be at my best.” DEONTAY WILDER has labelled Anthony Joshua a coward ahead of his heavyweight showdown with Tyson Fury.
The WBC champion goaded the WBA, IBF and WBO title holder as he prepares to face Fury at Staples Center in LA in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Wilder, 33, wanted to face Joshua
(right) this year but the pair’s teams failed to agree on a deal and so he opted to face Fury.
He said: “The
AJ fight is up to them, they have to stop being cowards, we are moving on from him.”
Fury must give the American another crack if he upsets the odds.
But Wilder says he could give Fury a rematch even if he wins this weekend’s clash as he criticised Joshua for not risking his unbeaten record against him.
He added: “If it’s a great fight and fans want to see the rematch, then why not? I will probably end up giving him a second opportunity before any of these so-called best give him even one opportunity, because they are worried about their clean records.”
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren reckons the winner in LA deserves to be seen as the best. “Whoever wins between Fury and Wilder, they are the No.1,” said Warren. “Anthony Joshua is in the slipstream.” Warren is confident of a Fury win as he has already beaten a better fighter in Wladimir Klitschko. Fury dethroned Klitschko as the king of the division three years ago when he claimed the WBO, WBA and IBF titles.
Warren added: “If you look at the fighters that Klitschko had beaten compared to who Wilder has beaten, there is no contest.
“If Tyson is 80 per cent of what he was, he beats this guy.”