Luffy was equal. When he beat Kizaru he ran out of energy, causing a tie. After they were unable to move, Kizaru recovered first and then fed Luffy, showing us he wasn't really trying.
Luffy wasn't either. He states to Kizaru when they begin battling in G5 that he almost died from the barrier and he wasn't using any Advanced Haki against Kizaru. He used it once and Kizaru was knocked down for a while. Luffy then 2v1'd Saturn & Kizaru and was overpowering them.
^^It wasn't though. Luffy one-shot Kizaru once he used ACoC and later overpowered Kizaru & Saturn simultaneously though to give Kizaru some credit, he was mentally nerfed but Luffy was also severely injured since he almost died from Vegapunk's barrier.