Ronnie O'Sullivan joked he won't "do a Mike Tyson" but is struggling with the idea of retiring.

Iron Mike, 59, has been bouncing in and out of retirement with exhibition bouts in the boxing world; instead, O'Sullivan flirted with the idea of joining the World Seniors Tour.

The Rocket, 45, became the oldest winner of the World Snooker Championship back in 2022, and has admitted he could be coming to the end of his career.

He told Daily Star Sport: "I thought I'd retire at 35, and I'm 49 now. So I've done an extra 14 years out of it more than I thought."

O'Sullivan admitted he had to "cut all the other bits and pieces out," such as exhibitions and flying too much. The Rocket continued: "I felt I was getting worn out. I think there's still a bit of life in me.

"So, retirement? It's kind of hard for some people. I can't ever see myself retire. I just have to find things that I can do."

However, when asked if we could see a Mike Tyson-esque loop of retiring and coming back from snooker's most famous star, he instead pointed to a possible stint on the senior circuit.

"There are a lot of really good 45-year-old snooker players. I mean, John is 49, Mark's 49. We'll say 50-round it up," O'Sullivan said.

"But there are a lot of good players that can still play to a very, very high level. They just can't compete with the likes of Judd Trump, Zhao Xingtong, and Kyren Wilson .

"But among the seniors, the standard is very, very high. I watched the World Seniors final last year, and I thought the standard was very high. Best of 15 match, Alfie [Burden] played some strong stuff.

"I played Alfie too that year, we had a great match, I won 5-3, but I played very well. So, you know, the standard among the senior players is very high."

However, O'Sullivan joked he knows there will come a point when it's time to put the cue down when it gets "embarrassing"

O'Sullivan is supporting the launch of Pluto Snooker 900 - the world's first 24/7 dedicated snooker channel, streaming free and on demand on Pluto TV, with more than £600,000 in prize money already pledged for amateur players over the next 12-months

The channel aims to spotlight the future of the sport - giving women, juniors and disabled players the TV platform usually reserved for the elite, alongside legends of the game.

Launching with Legends Week on Monday, October 6, the channel will feature 18 hours of live snooker every week, alongside classic matches from the archive and Ronnie's own Rocket Method coaching series

Ronnie O'Sullivan 'won't do a Mike Tyson' as snooker ace makes 'embarrassing' quit pledge - Daily Star