To everyone saying it wasn’t JUST Akainu vs the commanders.
We get a line from an escaping pirate that goes like this “Sengoku and the Blackbeard pirates over there, Akainu and the commanders over there! When will it ever end?!?”
Not only is this direct evidence that it was Akainu by himself vs the commanders for some significant amount of time, it’s also meant to be symbolic.
Sengoku (the old fleet admiral) vs the new generation (BB pirates), Sakazuki (the next fleet admiral) vs the old generation (remnants of the WB pirates).
Im pretty sure that comparison was intentional on Oda’s part.