That's the thing Nik. You say "for me Top Tier swordsman are the most complete fighters"
this doesn't mean Oda shares that opinion.
For you Kizaru is a superior fighter to Akainu but not for Oda. And because Akainu took part in that race is because he got the feat of beating a Top Tier, a feat Kizaru can't equal with anything.
Isnt it Oda who created the Roger, Rayleigh, Shanks, Mihawk, Rocks, Shiki and Oden as the supreme combatants of this world?
Is swordsmanship the only combat style that is separated from others through rarest achievement in the show - black blades?
Is Oda the one who created Zoro with superior swordsmanship to them all and gave him Demon God that takes it to a whole another lvl?
You dont want to play the feats game, lol... It is the same as people who trashed Zoro when he had no feats flipping sides and abandoning feats game once Zoro got best feats in the verse... Just because Kizaru and Kaido dont have a feat of beating a top tier doesnt mean they are weaker than Akainu. Kaido doesnt have a feat of beating top tier and yet Oda himself chose him over Akainu...
Akainu's superiority over Kizaru simply doesnt exist. Does he have better feats for now? Actually no. His feat of beating a top tier is offpaneled and we havent seen anything while Kizaru actually has on panel feats of going toe-to-toe with Dark King.