I don't bet against Shanks in the universe, I think Oda will make even Teach his endgame villain look bad next to Shanks. I'm talking about a completely hypothetical plot free fight. Atm ignoring favouritism and all that stuff, I just don't see any reason to not give Kizaru the benefit of the doubt over a linear fighter like Shanks, when a combo of Snakeman which Kaidou couldn't even perceive + FS, was not enough to even make him sweat. That's just being biased af, the ball is now in Shanks' court to prove he can counter Kizaru, because FS and even Snakeman level of angles is not enough.
With someone like Akainu I can atleast make the argument for some wacky AOE stuff and a potential awakening doing Kizaru in. Shanks fights far too honestly from what we can tell, and he lacks Kaidou's overall mosterlike makeup. I can't just give him the W here because...
I'm not saying Shanks can't prove otherwise, but the ball is now in his court to do so.