The Show Must Go On : Tragically for Boxer Mia St. John, Life Sometimes Does Imitate Art

In Rocky III, Sylvester Stallone gives a poignant portrayal of a boxer whose crusty trainer dies moments before one of his biggest fights.

If only life was just a movie for Mia St. John.

St. John, a Woodland Hills actress turned professional boxer, will enter the ring tonight in Tampa, Fla., for a four-round women’s featherweight bout against Contina Fredricks of North Carolina.

On Tuesday, Art Lovett, St. John’s manager and trainer since she switched from taekwondo to boxing a year ago, died of a heart attack after collapsing during a workout with her in Tampa.

For St. John, 29, who dabbled as a swimsuit model and more closely resembles a ring-card girl than a fighter, tonight’s fight is a milestone in her career, her first since signing a lucrative promotional contract with Don King Productions last month.

She might easily be excused after suffering such a loss. But Lovett, St. John said, wouldn’t want it that way and neither does she.

“It’s devastating, and it’s been hard,” St. John said. “Art was like my dad. We loved each other so much. But I’m getting through it and doing what he would want me to do.”

Lovett, 54, a resident of Chatsworth and a trainer for 15 years, had two previous heart attacks. Only last week, St. John said, she discussed his health with him.

Despite Lovett’s insistence that he was only winded on Tuesday, St. John immediately summoned an ambulance. St. John rode in the ambulance with Lovett to Memorial Hospital of Tampa, where he later was pronounced dead.

“The last words I said to him were, ‘I’ll never fight without you,’ ” St. John said. “He said, ‘Yes, you will.’ ”