Originally posted by carthage
I'm well aware of his skill feats/force feats, thank you. But fact is Ulic and Cade are better duelists than anyone he's ever fought. And he beat Kenobi when they were both older and "shells of their former selves". His only advantage is telekinesis and both Krayt and Kun are easily ore powerful than any of the Jedi Vader fought-so he won't be able to ragdoll or dominate them with telekinesis. Galen also never legitimately outskilled Vader either.
ANH Vader was only a shadow of his former self compared to Anakin, who is noticeably better than Krayt and Kun as far as duelling goes, and the quote doesn't mean that Vader is far less skillful than Anakin, only that inferior. Sure, as of ANH he is not slightly below Anakin, but neither massively.
Also you forgot:
- stomping Boba Fett while holding back. Fett as a teenager could give Kenobi a good fight, with that Obi-Wan being less out of practice than the one Hett faced.
- beating a group of Jedi including a Morgukai warrior (with them being a famous sect of Jedi killers and "peerless duelists"
decades before Rotj
- beating Celeste Morne while holding back and early in his career as a Sith, whereas Krayt wanted to kill her (though he later proposed her to join him), and at one point had assistance from Maladi. To be fair, Karness Muur also stated that she would have lost to Krayt eventually, but that doesn't change that she contended with him.
Yes, Morne was amped by Muur, but not always, and considering that she didn't have a duel for over a century, I doubt her skill wouldn't have decreased somewhat.
And if you want to reject the latter case, Krayt was still close to his skill prime, and was never stated or implied as having improved that much, whereas there is evidence that Vader improved dramatically since 19 BBY. Note that I'm not addressing power here, only skill. Also, Morne managed to fend off Krayt without assistance from Muur at times.
As for Krayt fighting evenly with Kenobi, the latter didn't want to kill him, and I doubt Krayt improved much, and as far as I know he never practiced with the lightsaber, and only oversaw the training of his One Sith, so I find it more likely that his skill decreased, though there is no conclusive proof of that.