Fair enuff I don't necessarily disagree with your underlying point that Sanji defeats and opponent of the same level at the same time as Luffy's main fight but even without Imu's interference, if it turns out that Akainu is awakened and the others aren't wouldn't it be the same thing as what you have for No.3?
True I am operating under the premise that they are of the same lvl, it is not impossible that the new recruits are gapped this hard. If we were speaking on Kizaru and Aokiji, it is
impossible. We know for a matter of fact that these 3 are closely knit to an extreme degree. But I believe this comes with an Admiral title to an extent (maybe not Akainu Aokiji lvl of closeness but you get the point, it's not a Lucci Kaku Jyabura situation either).
What always happens is Luffy struggles against his opponent cause he is punching above his class. Zoro and Sanji are punching below their class and end up dominating their opponents.
No matter how I look at it, it just doesn't check out for the 3 of them to get solo fights against the Admirals at the same time unless the new recruits are simply
that much weaker than the Marineford Trio (I'm talking mid diff or less not including matchup). Hard to imagine Oda is going to disrespect the Admiral title like that