Let's get the obvious out of the way, a lot of people say that Saitama is gag character, a gag character is a character introduced into a piece of literature that isn't meant to be taken seriously by the reader. Example of this is Arale in "Dragon Ball Super" as she's shown able to keep pace with Goku while in Super Saiyajin Blue form and more popularly Dan from "Street Fighter", and while both may fall into the category of Lethal Joke Character (Dan mostly if used correctly) in their respective universes they're seen as pretty much insignificant. Saitama on the other hand, despite "One Punch Man" being considered a parody, is NOT a Gag Character, I repeat SAITAMA IS NOT A GAG CHARACTER! Saitama is a Deus Ex Machina. Deus Ex Machina for the uninformed is a literary device in which the heroes are in serious trouble with no way to be saved and they are suddenly saved by a completely random unforeshadowed character or plot device that completely solves all the problems for the heroes.
In his own universe, Saitama is the strongest being there is and any threat faced by the human population can be solved by Saitama very simply and with no effort on his part. Saitama's abilities are themselves a joke, he allegedly gained these abilities by doing 100 Push-ups, 100 Sit-ups and 10km run every day...which anyone who seriously hit the gym would tell you this is pretty basic, so the fact that this is the origins of Saitama's abilities is...well, unbelievable and frankly hilarious, but nonetheless until we find out otherwise (and I doubt we will) those are the origins of his powers. Hence Saitama is a Deus Ex Machina, everything about him is completely unremarkable except his abilities in which the origins thereof are likewise unremarkable. Now despite not having sensible origins for his powers, we can quantify what we've seen.
The best way to quantify Saitama's powers would be with someone who stood on "equal" footing with him, and that would be Boros. Despite the fact that Boros got curb stomped by Saitama, we can determine Saitama's powers based on Boros, and we can determine Boros's powers on who I think is the closest DBZ match for him and that would be Cell. The reason I chose Cell is simple, Boros has a power limiter similar to an android, now Cell didn't have a power limiter but he did have a limit on his power without his absorbing of #17 & #18, likewise, Cell has the ability to transform into a Super Saiyajin (due to his Saiyajin DNA) and Boros has the ability to transform into a super-mode, and lastly, much like Cell, Boros is a being that you'd have to kill twice due to his regenerative abilities, Cell can pull himself back together from a single cell and Boros can pull himself back together after being reduced to an eyeball and blood splatter, so I'd say my comparison on these two is pretty apt.
Boros' Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon, I'd consider it to be on par with Cell's Perfect Kamehameha, as both have the ability to potentially destroy a planet and both have been denied their true potential by having someone equally or more powerful standing in the way of said potential destruction (Gohan & Saitama, respectively). Cell has been shown to be a completely devastating force to The Z Fighters and has been shown to not be completely dwarfed by Gohan but to be edged out enough to be defeated, after all, Vegeta saved Gohan's bacon in that battle because Gohan was limited to the use of only one arm. Also, Gohan had to exhaust quite a bit of energy and had to be pushed to reach that level to fight Cell on equal footing. (ie, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0WaiRulyoY )
Saitama on the other hand, despite being kicked all the way to the moon and getting hit with several attempted killing blows remained unscathed and unfazed by any damage suffered. Much like Cell, Boros had a desire to cut loose so any attempt to say that Boros was fighting at half power is a bald-faced lie. Now here's where it gets tricky, at the end of the fight with Boros, Boros realizes that Saitama was (much to Boros's amusement) actually holding back, which means that Saitama wasn't even fighting seriously (at least until he unleashed his Serious Punch) which means that Saitama could have at any point in time one-shoted Boros, and the only reason the fight lasted as long as it did is because Saitama was having fun.
So with the data we have available let's look at the facts, Goku and Gohan have both shown difficulty defeating Cell, Goku even having to go so far as to sacrifice himself to keep Cell from killing everyone. Gohan was injured, exhausted and had to be pushed to reach a level to keep pace with Cell and was only able to defeat him by a distraction from Vegeta. At the end of the fight, Gohan had enough energy left to descend down slowly as opposed to plummeting to the ground. We are shown explicitly that Gohan has reached the end of his strength and has expelled all the energy he had to offer at that time, had Cell not been completely disintegrated and regenerated, The Z Fighters would have been screwed (Cell's Saiyajin DNA dictates every near-death experience only makes him stronger).
Saitama fought a Cell like being with no visible exhaustion, physical damage, or any indication that he required a power increase or was pushing himself, and once again the cherry on top is the fact that Saitama wasn't even trying. What do we do with this information and how does it compare to Goku now? Well, let's look at some facts, Goku is constantly pushing himself and training non-stop, so Goku has the potential to grow and has ultimately achieved Ultra Instinct (despite not being able to tap into that power now, also bare in mind Beerus has not been able to master that technique). Here's where it gets tricky, we've seen Goku struggle and get injured, we've seen the kinds blows Goku has taken and we've seen him exhaust himself numerous times in the Tournament Of Power. We know for a fact Goku can be harmed and physically injured. We know that if Goku pushes his power too far he can lose control of them (when he couldn't control his Instant Transmission) we know that using Kaioken takes a massive physical toll on his body.
We HAVE NO CLUE what can injure Saitama! If getting kicked to the moon can't physically hurt him, I'm at a loss to figure out what will. The farthest distance anyone's ever been kicked (or punched in this case) is Super 17 in DBGT when Goku punched him nearly across the world (ie, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay7G-DcLUNo ) but across a few continents is not comparable to knocking someone literally into space. Even "Dragon Ball Super's" strongest being Jiren has been shown to be exhausted and capable of suffering physical damage. The ONLY beings who have not been shown to exhaust or suffer physical damage are Beerus and Whis, with Whis being the only being to have been shown to be capable of harming Beerus in any meaningful fashion. Likewise, Beerus's fight with Goku while he was a Super Saiyajin God, at the end of the fight Beerus revealed to Whis he was holding back, in a similar fashion to Saitama and Boros.
So judging by the criteria of what is capable of causing harm to the subjects in question (Goku & Saitama), logically we'd have to assume that Saitama can't be physically harmed, since nothing has been shown to be capable of doing that, and Goku can be physically harmed we've seen this time and time again. So ultimately judging by what we've seen Saitama's power would have to be on a level of Beerus and Whis as they are the only characters with attributes comparable to Saitama in terms of never being seen harmed, exhausted or pushing themselves to access more power. And just like Saitama, the fight between Beerus and Goku lasted as long as it did because Beerus was having fun, but Beerus could have easily one-shoted Goku had he found him annoying.
Now not much is known about Beerus but given how Gods Of Destruction are made, it can be assumed that Beerus was once mortal like Goku and was recruited to be a G.o.D much like Top was, which means Beerus has trained and his Godly ki can become relaxed and not as powerful, case in point Sidra gave a Hakai to one of his men to kill Goku (this was an assassination attempt), we've seen what Beerus's Hakai can do (killed Zamasu immediately) Sidra's Hakai didn't kill Frieza but managed cause Goku GREAT distress and he probably would have died had Beerus not arrived. This indicated that though God Ki is powerful if it's not built up, it can wain. So Beerus had to have been trained to be a G.o.D and keep his God Ki powerful. Saitama has had no such training and is shown to be ultimately very lazy, so...the grand verdict is Saitama is probably as strong as Champa, which is still pretty damn strong. So ultimately, YES, Saitama IS stronger than Goku by the sole verdict of nothing being able to harm, exhaust or push Saitama. Goku has limits and as it stands right now Saitama has none that we know of. However, fun fact, neither of them can breathe in the vacuum of space, so that is something capable of hurting them both.
In conclusion, here's the thing, there isn't going to be a definitive answer to this debate simply because anyone trying to take "One Punch Man" seriously is missing the entire point of the series. What's the point of the series? SAITAMA WINS, NO MATTER WHAT! That's the point, put Saitama up against anybody HE'S GOING TO WIN, he's written that way on purpose because it's supposed to be that way. He's a deus ex machina, he'll be stronger than whatever is placed before him, able to resist whatever abilities it has and able to stop it with no effort because THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT! Saitama is an ass-pull character of the highest order, but that's the point. He'll never struggle or put forth any effort. People say Goku is an asspull O.P. character but we've seen Goku push, train, struggle, fight and get better each time, anyone saying Goku is an O.P. character or wearing plot armor is mistaken. Saitama is plot armored up the wazoo, but again that's the point. He'll never lose, EVER.
Saitama's abilities aren't taken seriously, it's played for laughs and is looked upon as a joke. King gets the credit for everything Saitama does, Saitama kills The Deep Sea King in front of hundreds of witnesses and again receives NO CREDIT. The point of "One Punch Man" isn't about who Saitama can defeat, it's about what a person with his kind of power does with it, and throughout the series, we see him slowly realizing that it's not about people knowing who he is or notoriety, it's about helping people. Ultimately, I find debates over who can beat who childish and pointless, (apparently not, since I wrote an article about it) but I wanted to because I felt I at least had a sane way to discuss this. Anyways, let me know what you think, I'll catch you guys later.
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