Ringside Roundup: Canelo-Cotto is official, Howard Davis Jr. is battling terminal cancer

It's time for another edition of Ringside Roundup, which is the MMA fan's weekly boxing digest covering results, news and notes, and a look ahead to upcoming fights. A massive fight was announced earlier this week, but on a somber note, one name familiar to both the boxing and MMA world is in the biggest and toughest battle of his life.

(As always, head over to Bad Left Hook for more extensive boxing coverage.)

Last week's results

Sergiy Derevyanchenko (6-0, 4 KOs) UD-8 Elvin Ayala (28-7-1, 12 KOs). Top middleweight prospect Derevyanchenko easily shutout former fringe contender Elvin Ayala in last Friday's ShoBox main event. As the Showtime highlights note, he connected on nearly 50% of his power punches.

Derevyanchenko connected on nearly 50% of his power punches as he wins via UD in the headliner of tonight's #ShoBox http://t.co/OO9d0vQgHu

— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) August 8, 2015

That's all you're getting for results, because I didn't watch the event and it was a really light week for boxing events worth a damn, at least on US television.

News and notes

Cotto vs. Canelo is a done deal! YES! YES! YES! Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) and Canelo Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) will duke it out on November 21st at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. It's a huge fight, it will be a big selling HBO PPV, and I can assure you won't be disappointed with this fight. The pay-per-view price tag is a reported $64.95.

Pacquiao's injured shoulder is healed, wants Mayweather rematch. Manny Pacquiao's shoulder injury suffered prior to his loss to Floyd Mayweather is all healed up according to the man himself. He obviously wants a rematch with Mayweather, which ... nope. Not going to happen.

Golovkin-Lemieux breaks Madison Square Garden's ticket presale records. Gennady Golovkin is a star in the making. He may already be there. The world's #1 middleweight will make his PPV debut on October 17th against David Lemieux in a title unification bout, and ticket demand is high. Madison Square Garden presale records have been shattered, with 6,000 tickets already snapped up before general release on August 12th. The HBO PPV is expected to be priced at $50, and the only remaining tickets appear to be the $50 nosebleed buys in the upper bowl at The Garden.

Peter Quillin (31-0-1, 22 KOs) is fighting an Australian Chippendale. Once upon a time, Peter Quillin was supposed to fight Matt Korobov as a mandatory WBO middleweight title defense. Quillin turned down a $1.4 million payday, was stripped of his belt, and this year he missed weight for his chance to regain the belt back vs. Andy Lee (who KO'd Korobov). Oh, and he didn't beat Lee even after 2 early knockdowns. So what's Quillin doing now? Fighting some guy named Michael Zerafa (17-1, 9 KOs), who has beaten nobody of note. The Aussie is best known for being a Chippendale. This ridiculous fight is headlining a September 12th PBC on NBC afternoon show, with Jermall Charlo fighting IBF super welterweight champion Cornelius Bundrage in a far more interesting co-main.

Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) vs. Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs) delayed to October 10th. WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee was set to defend his title in a Rugby stadium in his home country of Ireland, but an illness forced his fight with England's Billy Joe Saunders to be delayed. The fight has since been moved to Manchester, England, which is a bummer for expectant Irish fans who wanted to see their countryman defend the belt on home soil.

This week's schedule

Antonio Tarver (31-6, 22 KOs) vs. Steve Cunningham (28-7, 13 KOs), PBC on Spike, Friday, August 14th at 9 PM ET/PT. Yeah this is real. Tarver is 46 years old and he actually KO'd Johnathon Banks (head trainer of Wladimir Klitschko) back in December at heavyweight. The former LHW champion who more or less was the first guy to ever beat Roy Jones Jr. has stayed relevant, even after a positive steroids test in 2012. Cunningham is a former cruiserweight champ who has been at heavyweight for his last 7 fights, picking up just a 4-3 record in the process.  I couldn't give the slightest of a damn about this fight, but of interest should be the co-feature. Germany's Marco Huck (38-2-1, 26 KOs) makes his US debut against Krzysztof Glowacki (24-0, 15 KOs) in a defense of his WBO cruiserweight belt. Huck is pretty entertaining to watch and for my money he's the real main event, not 2015 Antonio Tarver. 

Lucian Bute (31-2, 24 KOs) vs. Andrea di Luisa (17-2, 13 KOs), PBC on NBCSN, Saturday, August 15th at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT. Once upon a time, Canada's Lucian Bute was one of the best super middleweights (168 lbs) in the world. Then Carl Froch whooped him, and Jean Pascal bested him two fights later at 175 lbs. We've probably seen his better days pass him by. I have no idea who the hell Andrea di Luisa is, but he shall be known as "the man who is going to lose badly to Lucian Bute in a PBC squash match."

Howard Davis Jr. talks about his battle with terminal lung cancer

Unfortunately, this week's Ringside Roundup ends on a very sad note. Howard Davis Jr. is certainly familiar to MMA fans as the boxing coach at American Top Team, and also former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell. Davis also runs the Fight Time Promotions in Florida. His boxing background is phenomenal. He had a decorated amateur career, defeating future greats Aaron Pryor and Thomas Hearns, and winning a gold medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. That USA team also boasted Ray Leonard, Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, and John Tate.

Davis' pro career finished up 36-6-1 with 14 KOs, and while he failed to capture a world championship in three attempts, he left the sport as one of the best at his craft. The years have past and he's gone on to become a very successful coach and regional promoter, but just a few months ago, the 59-year-old lifelong non-smoker was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, and it is inoperable. Doctor's prognosis gave him less than a year to live. It's a story that has been under-the-radar in the MMA scene due to the wave of major UFC events, but Davis has been a long-time valuable contributor to the growth of the sport and the development of several top fighters.

Last month, The Sun-Sentinel did a short profile on Davis, who at the time of the video had already lost more than 40 pounds. Davis says "it's fight time" and he is continuing to combat what is essentially a terminal illness. It is undoubtedly heartbreaking viewing.