Mihawk never said WB was stronger. He was testing to see how much weaker WB became. The manga showed his level by him needing the character with the strongest defense to protect from Mihawk.
Jozu is described as the shield of the WB pirates.
People need to stop twisting the facts that scene around the downplay Mihawk.
He said "the distance between us seems shorter"
Meaning the distance, ie strength gap, was larger before.
Why would Mohawk test the strength of someone that was weaker than him in prime lol
Mohawk aimed at wb and got blocked by a mere commander. That's an L for Mohawk.