According the Merriam Webster dictionary the definition of falling is, "to descend freely by the force of gravity".

How can the explanation given by Newton that a canon ball shot at a specific speed will fall, (descend) around the the earth never hitting it due to the earths' curvature?

Would not a more true observation be that the centrifugal force acting on the canon ball is equal to the gravitational force being applied ball thus keeping the ball at a specific distance from the center of rotation?

If you are in a rotating system newton's law do not work .Adding a frictious force can make the law work. If an orbiting object is in constant freefall under gravity . Even elliptical planet orbits are examples of freefall under gravity. The force F which the planet feels; this force can be resolved into two components, centripetal force F_C and tangential force F_T.

The tangential force causes an acceleration(newton's second law) which decreases the speed and the centripetal force causes the velocity to turn. In there is circular orbit of radius R, F_T=0 and the centripetal force is F_C=Mv^2/R;

The centrifugal force would be a vector with magnitude Mv^2/R( same as that of centripetal) pointing away from the sun but it does not really exist.