User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Sorcerer Magazine, Issue 42: June 2015/@comment-25395791-20150703044100/@comment-3290324-20150703174430

Yeah... no. Laxus severely overestimated Evergreen's strength. Hence the fact that he thought she could easily beat Erza... even though Erza beat her without breaking a sweat or having to requip a single armor. And since the timeskip happened, we don't know how strong Lucy and Juvia are so comparing them now wouldn't be accurate. But when Mashima made that comment, it was back in the Grand Magic Games era, and frankly, I'd be very shocked if Lucy was able to beat Juvia. :/