True tbh, but since one became fleet admiral while the other quitted marine, i'm inclined to believe akainu>>>>aokiji.
That only proves Akainu wasn't powerful enough to be a leader to Aokiji, they were equals, thus Aokiji choose to follow a stronger leader than Akainu, who is BB. If Akainu is stronger than other Admirals such as Kizaru, then so is Aokiji, if Akainu didn't exist, Aokiji would be the fleet admiral over Kizaru.
If aokiji was equal to akainu he wouldn't have a missing leg on top of half burner chest, akainu is LEVELS above aokiji.
Look at the conclusion of their fight, someone had to win so they could move on as fleet admiral, fighting forever like Dorry and Brogy would leave the marines as leaderless.
At the end, magma and ice are equally divided, if Akainu was even a little bit stronger there should've been more magma than ice at the end:
its %50 %50, not even %60 magma %40 ice, they were equals until the last clash still didn't overpower the ice,
Akainu was heavily wounded after the fight as well, and was scarred and lost half of his right ear.