Ah yes, because Mihawk really needs to check if Whitebeard's subordinates will in fact protect Whitebeard. 
Why do you people make everything so lame?

Why do you people make everything so lame?

Everything was to put WB on a pedestal, yes Mihawk admitted inferiority. His belief was that WB was on a different level than the “rest of us” or everybody else. Some context can be made that he noticed WB was on decline, so the image in his head might not be matching the real deal. Nonetheless, we got to take a look inside his mind on how he viewed WB as superior.
Oda was willing to throw everybody under the bus to gas WB. There are no four walls that Mihawk is literally trying to measure… but there is one giant metaphorical wall that is standing before everybody else right in front of him.