Published Monday, 26 July 2010
"Alex should have been looked after from the minute he couldn't earn a living playing snooker," he said.
"I definitely think snooker could have done a lot more for him. If Alex Higgins was a golfer I think he'd have probably been a multi-millionaire in his ending days because I do think they look after their top sportsmen a bit better."
The 61-year-old - known as the 'Hurricane' by his legion of fans - was discovered after concerned friends broke into his Belfast flat, having failed to contact him by phone. It is not known how long he had been dead inside the apartment.
Higgins had battled throat cancer for more than a decade.
"Hopefully snooker can learn from that now and hopefully for the future, great players do good for the game and there can be something in place to make sure they're not in the situation Alex found himself in towards the last few years of his life because it was sad to see," O'Sullivan added.
"It was a sad, sad day - sad news. I knew Alex reasonably well and I was really gutted."
Higgins is credited with dragging snooker into the public eye in the 1970s and '80s with his flamboyant style of play and extravagant lifestyle which saw him become a regular on the party scene and strike up a friendship with fellow Ulsterman George Best.
"He had such a charisma and a presence about him," O'Sullivan reflected.
"I remember him coming to Blackpool when I first turned professional. He'd walk in a room and the atmosphere would just change immediately because of the presence of the man.
"He was a fantastic character and player and he knew how to work a crowd. He was a professional and a genius - George Best if you like... unbelievable."
Higgins' reputation as one of sport's most colourful characters may have preceded him, but O'Sullivan never found the Northern Irishman to be anything other than a gentleman.
"I loved the man - I really, really did," he said.
"I was probably one of the only people that actually got on well with him. We had such a mutual respect. A lot of people used to say 'be careful of Alex', this and that, but he was a gentleman with me.
"I got to see the real good side of him and when he did have his tantrums that was part of what made him great. I loved it."
On Monday morning, members of the public queued at Belfast's City Hall to pay tribute to the snooker legend as a book of condolence was opened by Lord Mayor Pat Convery.
He told UTV he expected to see people from a "wide range of communities" coming to sign it.
"It's important because we feel that he is Belfast-born and reared - a Belfast citizen who brought to the world of snooker many talents," Mr Convery said.
"He was a controversial and colourful character, but we have to remember the good things that Alex did for this city in the international sporting arena of snooker."
Asked about local speculation over the funeral being held City Hall, the Lord Mayor said that decisions would be made later by the family.
"Funeral arrangements are normally the family's responsibility and it wouldn't be for me to make any suggestions."
It is understood Alex Higgins' funeral will be delayed to allow his friend and fellow player Jimmy White to return from Thailand to attend and that the thousands raised for his medical treatment will help fund the ceremony.