Remade Ruddock Fights Page in Las Vegas : Boxing: His first bout since losing to Tyson also is his first with Floyd Patterson in his corner.

The last time he was seen in Las Vegas--June 28--Razor Ruddock wasn’t a pretty sight. He was on his way to a hospital with a broken jaw, split lip and several cracked ribs.

He had just lost a decision to Mike Tyson, but from the looks of him, you would have thought they had fought with tire irons, not boxing gloves.

Ruddock returns to the ring tonight at the Mirage with a 10-round bout against Greg Page.

Now, seven months later, time has healed all wounds. Time also has changed the heavyweight picture. Tyson, convicted of rape this week in Indianapolis, could be out of boxing for years or forever.

With Tyson gone, Ruddock sees lesser men standing between him and boxing’s heavyweight championship.

“After Razor beats Page, we don’t see (Evander) Holyfield’s people rushing to us with an offer for a title fight with Razor,” said Howie Albert, Ruddock’s adviser.

“Holyfield does not match up physically very well with Razor, and the Duvas (Dan and Lou Duva, Holyfield’s promoter and trainer) know that. They’ll fight Foreman again if they think they can get away with it--lots of money, much less risk. They’d even rather fight (Riddick) Bowe instead of Razor.

“They’ll put us off by telling us to fight Riddick Bowe, and then that winner can fight Holyfield for the title.”

What about Bowe against Ruddock?

“At the World Boxing Council convention in Bangkok, we offered Bowe’s people $3 million, including $400,000 for signing,” Albert said. “We knew Bowe had never received a purse of more than $300,000 at that time. They turned us down. They want Bowe to go directly to Holyfield. They feel their guy can beat him.”

And so Ruddock (25-3-1)--a 6-foot-3, 235-pounder from Jamaica by way of Toronto who is living in Coral Springs, Fla.--remains a force in the heavyweight picture.

He will earn $400,000 tonight for his first post-Tyson appearance, against an opponent on the downside of his career. But some urge caution in the face of 9-1 odds favoring Ruddock. Page (34-9) is still a skilled boxer, and he is the next-to-last man to put Tyson on the canvas, which he did as a sparring partner in Tokyo, days before Tyson lost his title to Buster Douglas two years ago.

Ruddock, despite the courage he showed in two bouts with Tyson, was exposed as a fighter with one punch--a smashing left hook. He also exhibited poor footwork and body mechanics in the two fights. He was knocked down a total of three times.

His promoter, Murad Muhammad; the fighter’s brother, Delroy Ruddock; and adviser Albert met after the second loss to Tyson and decided to clean house. Fired were trainers Art Miles and Slim Robinson. Hired to remake Ruddock into a more complete boxer was former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson, 57, who promises a new Ruddock tonight and an even more complete Ruddock six months from now.

“Miles and Robinson told Ruddock, in effect, to forget his left jab after he knocked Michael Dokes out with that left hook,” Albert said. “They told him ‘just use the smasher.’

“Well, Floyd’s changed all that. He’s taken Razor back to boxing school.”

Says Patterson: “Until I got him concentrating on his jab, Razor never understood what you can do with a strong, quick jab. I explained to him you can open a guy up with it, you can weaken him, frustrate him, hurt him, confuse him, make him so angry he makes stupid mistakes, set him up for your best punches.

“Also, no one ever taught Razor how to bob and weave. When he did move his upper body, he moved too far to the right or left. He can’t throw punches from those positions. And his footwork wasn’t good. He tends to stand with both feet together, instead of one up front, one behind.

“These are things you’re supposed to learn when you first go in a gym. It’s a tribute to his strength and his athleticism that he’s gotten this far in boxing.”

Also on tonight’s Showtime card is a WBC middleweight championship match between champion Julian Jackson (42-1) and Ismael Negron (16-8-1).