Daniel Palma and Fernando Barrera will open the professional half of Saturday's card in Querétaro, the only two Tulum Fight Club fighters on a bill of 12 bouts.
The show is called "Anhelo de Campeón 13". It runs at Club Hípico Cimatario, a riding club on the outskirts of the state capital, with USG Promotions and Barrio Box behind it. Six amateur fights come first. Then six professional fights, and the first two belong to Tulum.
Neither man paid his own way there. Barrera says close to 20 backers covered the training camp and the travel, among them businesses around town, friends, and people from Tulum's international community, in a year when the local tourism economy has been thin enough that few here have money spare for a boxing camp. Saturday is a small local investment as much as it is a fight.
Palma first, Barrera second
Palma takes the first professional bout of the night, at super lightweight, against Óscar Reséndiz of Querétaro. It is his third paid fight. Barrera follows at lightweight against a Querétaro boxer billed as "El Matador" Bautista.
Both Tulum men are the visitors, with everything that comes with a small-hall fight. The crowd belongs to the other corner.
The professional bouts are scheduled to start around 6:30 p.m. Central Mexico time.
One win, two losses, and a fourth walk to the ring
Barrera turned professional in 2023 and arrives Saturday with one win and two defeats. The win came by knockout in Monterrey.
He is direct about the most recent loss. The opponent was a local fighter who came in unbeaten at 6-0, by Barrera's account, and the fight went to the scorecards. He says he was never hurt in it. He says he lost it on his own output, for not throwing enough.
In June, he told the Quintana Roo outlet Palco Quintanarroense that he is working toward a title sanctioned by Fecombox, the federation that groups Mexico's professional boxing commissions. Fecombox sanctions national and regional Mexican belts rather than world championships, and the route to one runs through a run of wins built on cards this size. A fourth fight against a local opponent, in that opponent's own city, is the ordinary shape of that climb.
Palma's professional record was not detailed in the material circulated before the fight.
Inside the family gym that became Tulum Fight Club
The Barreras have lived in Tulum for 24 years. The gym opened about 11 years ago under the name Tulum Fighters, run by Fernando and his father, César Barrera, who came up through Aikido and then Muay Thai before stepping back from competition to coach full time.
Fernando came to boxing sideways. He started with taekwondo at seven, became a black belt at 16, then spent close to eight years in Muay Thai, which he still teaches. He is also a co-founder of the gym he represents, so the fighter and the businessman share a corner.
It sits in the town center, off Avenida Kukulkán, and most of the people who walk through the door are not fighters. They are residents after conditioning work and visitors booking a session between beach days. The competitive side of the club has run mostly through the amateur ranks. Saturday puts two of its professionals on the same card.
Local businesses covered the camp and the flights
Barrera and Palma went public in June asking for cash and in-kind support to make the trip. They listed what they needed: travel costs, nutritional supplements, specialized meals, physiotherapy, sports massage, training equipment, and promotion. They were in camp under a coach identified only as Jonathan.
It came in. Barrera says the backing arrived from businesses around town, from individual supporters, and from members of the international community who train at the gym or know the family. He has not put a figure on the total.
He puts weight on when it happened. A camp and two plane tickets are not what a town in a bad season usually finds room for. Barrera says the generosity mattered more because of that, and that "we believe in the future of this town."
He is also particular about whose name he says he is carrying to Querétaro. The trip stands for more than the gym, in his telling. It stands for the people in Tulum who put money in and for the supporters abroad who did the same from a distance.
The two fighters have publicly thanked their backers, among them Vortex Vitality, Fisioterapia del Caribe, Nirvana Studio, Boxing Shop, Block Solutions, MD Self Defense Academy del Valle, Meesh Moves Training, Silvertooth Gym, Tojbe'enil Sport, Boho Style Tribe, Grupo HEMKA, Todo Tulum, Casa Xul, Golden Charm Tulum, Golden Chai, and Neo Ticket, along with individual supporters including Marlin Bowers and Samuel Pearton. Barrera says the full list runs longer.
A 7:30 p.m. start for anyone watching from Quintana Roo
Querétaro sits one hour behind Tulum. Mexico dropped seasonal clock changes in 2022, so the gap holds all year. A 6:30 p.m. first bell in Querétaro is 7:30 p.m. on the Caribbean coast.
The promoters are streaming the professional fights free on their Facebook page.
The series is not new to the venue. An account of the seventh edition, staged at Club Hípico Cimatario in July 2025 under the state's professional boxing, wrestling and contact sports commission, recorded that two of six scheduled professional bouts fell out during fight week after injuries, including the main event. Four fights went ahead. Anyone building an evening around one specific bout should check the promoters' page on Saturday before settling in.
Palma walks first. If the card holds its schedule, he will be under the lights around the time dinner service starts in Tulum, with Barrera taped up in the back, waiting on the fight after his.
Should Tulum's municipal sports budget help cover travel for local professionals competing outside Quintana Roo? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes .