By Keith Idec

Carl Frampton figured signing with Al Haymon was the path to landing the type of fights that could change his career on the other side of the Atlantic.

The unbeaten IBF super bantamweight champion from Northern Ireland will make his Haymon debut against Mexico’s Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. (25-1-2, 15 KOs) on Saturday in El Paso, Texas (CBS; 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT). The 28-year-old Frampton (20-0, 14 KOs) hopes a win in that Premier Boxing Champions main event helps him land a higher-profile fight against one of the numerous 122-pound or 126-pound boxers Haymon’s company represents.

“It was a pretty easy decision, to be honest,” Frampton said regarding signing with Haymon. “I think the exposure we can get from [signing with] Al Haymon is massive and huge. And even more so than that, he’s got a lot of the top fighters around super bantamweight and the featherweight division. You know, all these names I want to fight – Leo Santa Cruz, Abner Mares, Gary Russell.

“They’re the sort of fighters that he’s got, that Al Haymon controls. So without linking up with him, it would’ve been pretty hard to make them fights. So it was a pretty easy decision. We’re very grateful for the opportunity here and, as I said before, I said previously, it’s giving me a chance for massive exposure here and that’s really the big thing – exposure on both sides of the Atlantic.”

The Frampton-Gonzalez bout will headline CBS’ doubleheader Saturday from the University of Texas-El Paso’s Don Haskins Center. The telecast is scheduled to start with a 10-round heavyweight bout that’ll match contender Chris Arreola (36-4, 31 KOs, 1 NC), of Riverside, California, against Cameroon’s Fred Kassi (18-3, 10 KOs).

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.