Do you consider Old Foreman a "real" heavyweight champion

For the brief period he held it? Yes. Moorer was the lineal claimant and Foreman won the title decisively.

 

yes he knocked out the heavyweight champion.

 

Yes, Moorer was the lineal champion.

 

In the immediate aftermath of knocking out moorer he was the best claimant.

His subsequent refusal to face a legitimate opponent erased his claim.

Once bowe had destroyed hide and holyfield I don't think anyone classed foreman as a champ. Even less when he got battered by schulz. By the time of the briggs fight the lineage was devoid of meaning.

 

Yes

 

Yes. He reclaimed the title of "the Man".

The lineal champion isn't always the man, but in this case, Moorer coming off beating Holyfield was pretty damn close.

Foreman was a signficant title holder, and had a decent claim to a top 3 heavyweight spot, if not #1.

 

Yep, he KOd the socks out of the lineal champion for what it is worth. That is way better than a lot of "legitimate" HW champions did in the past

 

He won the title so on paper he was champion for sure, but he was given 3 chances to win it against Holyfield,Morrison and Moorer and finally won it against weak chinned Moorer. It was not a great win really, but he won the title. i was not surprised he could knock out Michael Moorer. Look how easily Tua knocked him out later.

 

Foreman was a champion that probably would have lost to about 95% of the fighters in the top 20 at the time.

 

Yes

 

yes. he was champion when he beat Moorer.
but as lufcrazy said, he erased his own claim quite soon after winning the title.

 

I wouldn't call the Morrison fight for the title. WBO was garbage back then. And I think knocking out Moorer was a great win. Moorer was the undefeated champion of the world and also went on to win the IBF belt. Moorer was always chinny and his wars with Stewart and Cooper transformed him into a cautious boxer, but George handed him his first loss. I think George waited for the big money fight with Tyson but couldn't hold off the challenges that were ahead.

 

He was a fluke champion, not top10 best in the world but he got a little lucky

 

The answer to the question is clearly "yes", but this was one of those occasions where the new lineal champion was very likely not the best HW in the world. Moorer had won the title from a seemingly sub-par Holy - not his fault but it is what it is.

At the time, I would have definitely picked Bowe & Lewis to beat Ole George...possibly others too.