This may sound silly but learn mma. you dont want to be just a boxer with no other skills in a mma fight. Learn bjj, wrestling and muay thai. Im in the same situation. I started out boxing, now i do muay thai 2 days a week, bjj 2 days and wrestling & mma 1 day a week and weights 1 week a day. You need to be a fully rounded mma fighter to do well in mma
Fair play.:good It doesn't surprise me that Daley would appeal to you. As to who to look at, well depends on what you are looking for. Different guys have different strengths and weaknesses, some are orthodox while others are unorthodox. Might be best to have a look at some of the best in action, just to see the game at its highest level - in that case check out Jose Aldo, Georges Saint-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Junior Dos Santos, Cain Velasquez, Lyoto Machida, BJ Penn etc. Good luck with it, Jeffro.
Learning to check leg kicks, and working on your take down defense is important. However, the most important thing you can do is start training bjj. You'll need the submission defense against almost everyone. You'll need to know what to do on your back, because if you aren't already a high caliber wrestler, it's going to take years to become one. If you're not a high caliber wrestler, you need at least a blue belt in bjj or you are just setting yourself up for failure.
Just start from the beginning. You can learn some take down defense but the reality is you'll always be man handled by a college wrestler, so you just have to be really really good off your back.
Start right here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_Kune_Do#The_four_ranges_of_combat Add to that the fifth range of Submissions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submission_(combat_sports) Find a master to educate you in each range and you'll do just fine! When you're ready to start putting it all together - take a look at these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_Kune_Do#Five_ways_of_attack
Mirko Cro Cop is the perfect guy to watch, he is a k-1 striker who transitioned perfectly and with takedown defense he ran through the heavyweight division. Watch any of his fights pre 2006
Well it would all depend on how good a level you're boxing's at really. If you've been boxing for a good few years, the Muay Thai should be really easy to pick up if you want to go down that route. I'd focus on just sparring with Muay Thai guys though, focus on boxing them, learning how to check the kicks, learn to box them at your range (i.e in your boxing range). Wrestling/No-Gi are more important to learn, make them the priority. Also if possible maybe doing some sparring with some Judo guys. I wouldn't go away and do the classes though. I'd tend to avoid the Gi's in BJJ/Judo as without them the throws need to be tweaked and an overhook or wizzer needs to be used. Either way boxing is a very good base for MMA, along with good wrestling/no-gi and you're on your way.
Early Jens Pulver - began as a wrestler, early pioneer of sprawl n brawl in the UFC, then transitioned to pro-boxing when he needed some extra cash, compiled a record of 4-0 before moving back to mma. Hasn't been doing well recently, but his earlier fights are pretty much a blue print for boxers in mma. BJ Penn - Described by Freddie Roach as having the best boxing in mma, although I don't especially agree with that. His fight with Diego Sanchez was a fantastic display of what decent hands mixed with a great overall game can do for a fighter. Junior Dos Santos - Top of the heap at heavyweight, and he's done it with nothing but ferocious hands and amazing take down defense Some of Marcus Davis - he had a very decent pro-boxing record before transitioning to MMA something like 17-2. Never really did that well in mma, he was always too small to be a welterweight and he had some awful stylistic match ups, but he was always good to watch.