Madonna pays tribute to her ‘king’ Muhammad Ali

Madonna has paid tribute to her "king", Muhammad Ali.

The legendary boxer tragically passed away on Friday (03.06.16) from complications following his long battle with Parkinson’s disease and the ‘Living for Love’ hitmaker has praised her "hero [and] national treasure".

Sharing a photograph of them together, she wrote on Instagram: "This Man. This King. This Hero. This Human! Words cannot express. He shook up the World! God Bless Him … What is going on??!! We are losing all of our National Treasures. Our Pillars of Humanity. He was the Greatest! (sic)"

Meanwhile, Paul Simon stopped half way through a performance of his Simon & Garfunkel track ‘The Boxer’ to tell fans gathered at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California that Muhammad had passed.

He simply said: "I’m sorry to tell you this way, but Muhammad Ali has passed away," leaving a silence over the crowd as he played the last track of the night, ‘The Sound of Silence’.

And Puff Daddy had his own message for Muhammad, admitting he was "humbled" when the late sportsman came to see him on Broadway.

He wrote: "This pic means so much to me! The love he showed me he didn’t have too. He always was excited to see me. He even came to see me on Broadway in A Raisin In The Sun. He sat thru a 3 hr play to see me. IT bugged me out. It humbled me. Thank you for the love. I MISS YOU. #RIPALI (sic)"

Whilst Justin Bieber added: "This is the ALI we should all remember! The fun loving man who was fully himself!! RIP CHAMP!!! (sic)"

Muhammad is survived by his wife Yolonda Williams and his nine children – Laila, Rasheda, Hana, Asaad, Maryum, Jamillah, Khaliah, Muhammad Jr. and Miya.