BOXING\Barrera stops McKinney in thriller.

Byline: Michael Rosenthal Daily News Staff Writer

If champions are gauged by their ability to win tough fights, Marco Antonio Barrera has quite a future.

Barrera and Kennedy McKinney exchanged - and landed - mean-spirited punches at a dramatic pace in what might turn out to be a fight-of-the-year candidate on Saturday at the Forum.

When it was over, however, it was Barrera, a budding hero in Mexico, who was the tougher of two very tough fighters: He knocked McKinney down five times, including twice in the 12th round and that's all the former IBF champ could take.

Referee Pat Russell put an end to the memorable fight at 2:05 of the final round with McKinney on his backside and 7,912 breathless fans - mostly Mexican - roaring their approval as Barrera retained his WBO junior featherweight title.

The fighters combined to land 795 punches - 436 by Barrera, 359 by McKinney - according to computer statistics.

With the victory, Barrera, already considered one of the better pound-for-pound fighters in the world, erased any doubts about his ability - and his desire.

"This was my best win because of all the talking he did beforehand," said Barrera, who was winning the fight 106-100 on all cards. "He's a great fighter. It was a very tough fight. I expected a tough, 12-round fight."

The fight, in which defense played no role, gained momentum as it went along.

Barrera (40-0, with 28 knockouts) attacked from the beginning, dominating the first two rounds. However, McKinney, an Olympic gold medalist in 1988, survived and the two began to exchange punches fairly evenly in the middle rounds as McKinney was able to climb back into the contention.

The sixth round was a classic, as the fighters exchanged damaging blows toe-to-toe for three solid minutes and somehow remained on their feet, which lifted the screaming spectators out of their seats. At that point, it was clear this was a special night.

The beginning of the end for McKinney (28-2-1, 17 KOs) came in the eighth, when Barrera, who hadn't been all that active in the round, suddenly landed a right-left-right combination that put the challenger down for the first time. McKinney then went down again from another right but survived the round.

McKinney, who suffered another knockdown in the ninth, dipped into what appeared to be a depleted reservoir of energy to control the 10th and 11th rounds as Barrera began to tire. McKinney was awarded a knockdown when Barrera went to one knee in the 11th but it appeared to be a slip.

McKinney finally wilted in the 12th, when he went down from a body blow, fell again from a savage shot to the liver but somehow wasn't ruled down and then hit the canvas one final time from a straight right. His handlers had to lift him from the canvas.

"He's stronger than I thought," said McKinney, who had fought only once since August of 1994. "I was rusty, my timing was a little off. But I fought a great fighter tonight. I know he's great because he beat me."

In a strange and brief bout, Johnny Tapia knocked out overmatched Brazilian Giovanni Andrade at 2:26 of the second round to retain his WBO super flyweight title.

Andrade (17-3, 12 KOs) claimed to have been hit below the belt early in the second round but referee Raul Caiz disagreed and ordered Andrade to fight.

Moments later, Tapia (34-0-2, 20 KOs) put Andrade down with a right cross and the challenger immediately got up. Tapia then landed another punch to the stomach - which appeared to be legal on replays - and Andrade again claimed to have been fouled, this time writhing in pain on the canvas.