He is incredibly strong, however the thing that contributed to his hype was his finger jutsu, whatever it's called. It increased his level of power. Barehanded, he can't beat current Sakura.
This guy took on a rasenshuriken head and survived. How exactly would sakura deal any damage worse than that? You're basically saying Sakura is stronger than the eight tails since the raikage fought the eight tails barehanded.