galactus also said himself above everything in the universe "in all the universe, i stand alone". but was repelled by odin and ego... and the fantastic four. thor also says that warrior madness increases his abilities 10 fold. but thats also well short of his claims.
maybe out of everybody in that particular comic, he was second to galactus. but factoring in everybody in both universes, thats a far cry from the truth. considering galactus isnt even close to being top dog.
the FF have repelled galactus on several occasions. who knows about odin, it could be because galactus has a weakness to magic (said so himself) but thats also the thing that the power cosmic that the kryptonian has a weakness to in spades. superman is weak to sufficient magics, as most people are, and so is the power cosmic.
kryptonian is powerful yes, but RKT, i doubt hes that powerful. galaxy shaking blasts (that thor and odin both posessed) are nothing superman or the power cosmic is likely to handle.
Isn't the Surfer second to Galactus?? Plus hyperbole never holds much sway.......Didn't superman say that MM is more powerful than the JLA combined?? Didn't stop him from frying his butt later huh?? Plus in the MM vs Superman thread, the majority thought Superman wins.....So hyperbole is not a factor.... Plus, the comic never stated that he gave the Kryptonian more of the power cosmic than surfer. And Surfer would get lumped by RKT. Remember, Surfer gets written as a pacifist to keep the story going.......And he'd still get housed by RKT. Skyfather >>> Herald, and thats what the K was. Superman on the cosmic level at last.
Plus, with his powerset, the surfer should've been a big time villain. Then he would've stomped most of Marvel Earth like he's capable of doing.