@Daas,
“Yes, this is halachically problematic.”
I didn’t ask for your opinion as a Posek, I asked for you to quote a source in Shulchan Aruch or Rambam to back it up.
“Do the meshichists think he is definitely moshiach but not “chezkas moshiach”? How does that work?”
Does the fervent hopeful belief mean that you think he already reached the status of Chezkas Moshiach?
It means that you think he will rise from the meisim, and then accomplish what a Chezkas Moshiach would need to accomplish.
(I’ve already proven that this doesn’t fit with the Rebbes own words several times, but that doesn’t make one a koifer if he chooses to believe so.)