Is that why Oda openly said Kaido>Red Dog in SBS and Red Dog's equal in strength become an underling to BB not even partners?
Apples to oranges.
Lakainu's thing is Magma DF, not being durability freak like Kaido and Big mom. Not every character will have same stats that would be like assuming Red Dog and Yellow Monkey have the same speed.
While Lakainu's AP might be comparable (essentially isn't) his durability is not. Shichibukai BB showed a better durability and stamina than Lakainu vs. WB, he took 2 clean shots same as Red Dog but BB kept attacking, let alone Kaido and Big mom.
Thats also why Oda highlighted King Punch by using Yonko's durability by saying ''Even''. Didn't include Admirals to that.
Lakainu was so happy defeating random low level Commander Curiel he was screaming with passion after seeing Curiel get hit by magma.
Same thing happened to Ivankov + Inazuma, Lakainu fought them and they didn't even lose any limbs. So stop making up excuses.
Lakainu needed Enel vs Luffy estique DF advantage vs. Ace, + when Ace was incredibly nerfed + another cheapshot while trying to shield himself for Luffy in that very nerfed state with his back so he could finally die due to the culmination of all these 3 factors.
Kaido kills Guernica, Izo kills Maha, DFless BB kills 4th division Thatch, more examples can be made.
BB wasn't a Yonko when he decided to retreat, and when he had no intention to fight in the first place, BB was waiting for a deal, the deal was off and he moved on.
Lakainu retreated vs. a Nerfed Marco when he had intention to fight already, momentarily tactical movements doesn't prove any superiority.
We've seen that WB retreated vs Random Marines and didn't attack Kaido on Wano.
Not only vs. Nerfed Marco, same Red Dog didn't attack Saint Shanks, and also retreated again vs. Nerfed WB 2 times, first when WB had heart attack after hitting him with magma, Red Dog moved back and random Marines attacked WB instead of him.
In the second, Red Dog was either KOed with 2 shots only, or was hiding from WB under the ground.
I don't see any change at all.