Tyson Fury doesn’t like Deontay Wilder. Not even a little bit. But even he’s disturbed by what he’s been watching.

Fury said Wednesday that he's returning to fight in 2026 for a Riyadh Season card that's still to be determined.

When it comes to their rivalry, Fury closed that book shut in 2021 following back-to-back stoppage wins over him. Since then, things haven’t gone Wilder’s way.

He looked as explosive as ever against Robert Helenius in 2022, resulting in a quick first-round KO. But he fell off the map immediately after.

Joseph Parker schooled Wilder in 2023, pitching a near shutout. In 2024, the 39-year-old was beat down and stopped in the fifth against Zhilei Zhang.

As the losses continue to pile up, Fury has watched in the background. Quietly, the big man from the U.K. might’ve been rooting for Wilder. However, after seeing him lose time and time again, Fury has come to the realization that the former WBC beltholder simply isn’t the same.

“It’s sad to see someone of Deontay Wilder’s ferocity just a shadow of his former glory,” Fury told several reporters recently.

On a bright note, Wilder’s career is on an upswing. On June 27, he got back in the win column. Tyrrell Herndon was treated as a sacrificial lamb as Wilder (44-4-1, 43 KOs) had an easy time at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas. He mostly toyed with him until he found the fight-ending shot in the seventh.

That win, he hopes, will become more common. Ultimately, he’s optimistic that his final destination is a showdown against current unified heavyweight titlist, Oleksandr Usyk.

Fury highly doubts that will happen. The speed, toughness and, of course, deleterious power, just isn’t there anymore, according to Fury.

Boxing takes no prisoners, and Father Time continues to be undefeated. So seeing Wilder decline rapidly isn’t a surprise to Fury, but he isn’t a fan of how the back end of his career is playing out.

“I’m sad for him.”