[2] On his seventeenth professional bout on November 14, 2009, Sonsona made his U.S. debut on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto, where he defeated Israeli Eilon Kedem via second-round technical knockout (TKO) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
[4][5] He then defeated Colombian former world champion Mauricio Pastrana by eighth-round TKO on the undercard of Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey in March 2010.
[6] However, in his subsequent match in July, he was knocked out by Jonathan Oquendo of Puerto Rico in their battle for the vacant WBO-NABO super bantamweight title.
[10][11] He then challenged the undefeated Russian WBO Inter-Continental super featherweight champion Evgeny Chuprakov for a May 5 bout.
[11] Sonsona lost the match by a fifth-round TKO, ending the 12-fight unbeaten streak he maintained over the last 7 years.