Fox News guest compares Donald Trump to Muhammad Ali during boxer's funeral

As Muhammad Ali's funeral was getting underway on Thursday, conservative columnist Cal Thomas told Fox News that Donald Trump was a lot like the legendary fighter.

Between live shots of the Muslim prayer service for Ali in Louisville, Fox News host Heather Childers asked Thomas to explain why Trump was a successful candidate.

According to the columnist, Republicans loved Trump because he would not back down when he was attacked as for being racist, sexist, homophobic or a Muslim hater.

"Trump doesn't take that lying down," Thomas said. "I compared him in some ways to a less artful Muhammad Ali. He floats like a butterfly and stings like a whole hornets nest, frankly."

Watch the video below from Fox News' Happening Now, broadcast June 9, 2016.