Bakom (Vacon)
A Peruvian self-defence system from Lima put together in the early 1980s by Roberto Puch Bezada. It grew out of street fighting, not a school.
Quick Facts
Character & Origin
Training
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
About Bakom (Vacon)
Bakom, also called vacón, is a Peruvian self-defence system tied to Lima. It was assembled by Roberto León Puch Bezada, born in 1952, who grew up in the Barrios Altos district in the historic centre of the city, at the time one of the most dangerous parts of Lima. By his own account he received his first training from a Chinese teacher in Lima's Chinatown; later he graduated from the COEDE military school and served as a commando and intelligence officer. The year of origin is not documented. Sources speak of the early 1980s, and this page therefore leaves the year field empty. The system is not derived from a single traditional school but put together from what Puch judged to work in a street encounter: strikes, kicks, grips and ground fighting. Bakom reached the height of its fame in the 1980s and 1990s, when Puch appeared on Peruvian television and worked as a bodyguard for celebrities and politicians. Most of the claims repeated about the system come from that media exposure, including exaggerated accounts of its effectiveness; verifiable sources are few, which is why this entry is marked disputed. Puch later became a curandero, a traditional healer, and opened a workshop on Moquegua street. How widely bakom is practised today cannot be determined from the available sources; this page would rather admit that than supply figures it has nothing to support.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.