I honestly can't remember. Did Foreman still have the Ring championship belt, the one they normally give to the number 1 guy (usually linear) by the time he was fighting Savarese and Briggs in 1997?
I don't remember what belt he was holding in 1997, but I don't see how the ring could consider him as the linear champion at that point. He had already dumped his title and was fighting second raters. Of course, none of these things prevented the ring from still proclaiming Michael Spinks as THE MAN when he fought Tyson.
I dont think The Ring were declaring any champions in 1997. The magazine was going through a stage of non-involvement in such matters, perhaps.
Unforgiven is right - The Ring was not declaring champions in 1997. However, in an editorial prior to the Lennox Lewis - Shannon Briggs fight Nigel Collins (? - he was Ring's editor by that point, right?) expressed support for that fight because he felt that Briggs was the lineal champion via his win over Foreman and that the match would go part of the way toward clearing up the confusion as to who the "real" heavyweight champion was.
He was Linear Champ, don't think the Ring was choosing their champ in 1997. Thats why Lennox became linear champ when he beat Briggs, although he was clearly no1 after beating Holyfield
