Nah the manga has always had great moments (tho I'll admit I just couldn't bring myself to care at all about Higuruma but that's just personal) I mean so more in the sense that the pacing had become frenetic, with just fight after fight after fight. but yeah you're right It hasn't been that long, like I genuinely forgot about the Maki arc.
Like some people pointed out, this whole arc will feel way better on a re-read, when the whole series is finished.
Some of the my favourite arcs in JoJo's felt like a slop when reading it monthly / weekly.
BUT on the other side, this IS pushing... Like, Goku Vs Frieza was like 20 chapters and Luffy vs Doflaming was like ~33 chapters.
Sukuna vs Everyone is almost hitting 40 chapters.
The fight is not the culmination of a story arc it is the story arc itself.